BackKarnataka Congress seeks clarification on Supreme Court order
According to the court order, 15 rebel lawmakers 'ought not to be compelled' to participate in the ongoing Assembly proceedingsThe legislators had moved the Supreme Court with pleas that alleged that the speaker was deliberately not accepting their resignations
PremiumNew Delhi: Karnataka Congress Chief Dinesh Gundu Rao approached the Supreme Court on Friday seeking clarification on the court’s July 17 order that states 15 rebel lawmakers “ought not to be compelled" to participate in the ongoing Assembly proceedings.
Rao requested the order be clarified in the context that it does not refer to political parties’ constitutional right to issue a whip to legislators for the July 17 order on the resignation of 15 rebel Congress-JD(S) MLAs. This was coming in the way of the parties issuing a whip to its legislators in the ongoing trust vote.
He further contended in the application that such an order whittled down the power of a political party to issue a whip to its legislators and would be in breach of provisions of the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution and the judgment of the Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court in Kihoto Holohan vs Zachillhu.
Fifteen rebel Congress-Janata Dal Secular or JD(S) legislators had moved the Supreme Court with pleas that alleged that the speaker was deliberately not accepting their resignations. The petitioners had prayed the speaker accept the resignations as tendered and sought direction to restrain him from proceeding with disqualification.
The Supreme Court bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Deepak Gupta and Aniruddha Bose on 17 July allowed Karnataka assembly speaker K.R. Ramesh Kumar to take a decision on the resignation of the rebel legislators.
The court also said the 15 MLAs should not be compelled to participate in the trust vote to be held on 18 June. This order had created quite a stir in the Karnataka Assembly and the confusion has merely enhanced the already volatile situation.
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