Justice Prasad said, “Tomorrow at 10:30 am. I will hold only an interim hearing.”
New Delhi:
Seven BJP MLAs approached the Delhi High Court on Monday challenging their indefinite suspension from the Delhi Assembly for disrupting the Lieutenant Governor’s address.
Justice Subramaniam Prasad listed the matter for hearing on February 20 to decide whether any interim relief should be granted to suspended MLAs Mohan Singh Bisht, Ajay Mahawar, OP Sharma, Abhay Verma, Anil Bajpayee, Jitendra Mahajan and Vijendra Gupta.
Senior advocate Jayant Mehta, appearing for the petitioners, said their indefinite suspension till the conclusion of the proceedings before the privileges committee is in violation of the rules in force. He said that as a result MLAs are unable to participate in the ongoing budget session.
He urged the court to facilitate their participation in the session.
Justice Prasad said, “Tomorrow at 10:30 am. I will hold only an interim hearing.”
The petitions came up for hearing before Justice Prasad after they were mentioned for urgent listing before a bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan Singh and Justice Manmeet PS Arora in the morning.
BJP MLAs had allegedly interrupted Lieutenant Governor (LG) VK Saxena several times while highlighting the achievements of the AAP government during his address on February 15, while he attacked the Arvind Kejriwal government on several issues.
Senior lawyer Mehta said that 7 out of 8 Congress MLAs were suspended by the Assembly Speaker on February 16 while they were “marshalled out” a day earlier, which should have been considered punishment for their alleged wrongdoing. .
He said, even if it is assumed that the conduct of the petitioners was disruptive, the suspension cannot exceed three days.
Senior lawyers Kirti Uppal and Malvika Trivedi also appeared on behalf of the petitioners.
Mahawar, Gupta and Bajpayee have argued that the entire opposition has been suspended from the House, silencing any voice for accountability. The MPs said his suspension was a violation of the House’s constitution and working rules.
“Surprisingly, on 16.02.2024, an unconstitutional motion was moved by Shri Dilip Pandey to suspend the petitioners indefinitely till the disposal of the decision in the cases pending before the Privileges Committee. This is maliciously designed to disable Opposition members have been asked to participate in discussions on important business that were to be discussed and they have also been unconstitutionally excluded from participating in the budget session of the House,” The petition states.
“The order of the Hon’ble Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of the National Capital Territory of Delhi is unconstitutional, unjust, unjust and in any case selective and grossly disproportionate. It violates the fundamental and constitutional rights of the petitioners,” the petition, filed through PTI, said. ” Advocate Satya Ranjan Swain said.
It claimed that the conduct of the suspended MLAs did not amount to “unruly behaviour” as they merely highlighted various aspects related to the speech given by the Lieutenant Governor, but the Speaker “knowingly and knowingly suspended only the opposition MLAs”.
The petitions state that his suspension violates Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution of India (right to freedom of speech and expression) and the rights and privileges of legislators as well as the principle of “proportionality” and “reasonableness”. Does.
“The order of the Hon’ble Speaker dated 16.02.2024 is a clear case of violation of the rules of procedure and conduct of business in the Legislative Assembly of National Capital Territory of Delhi. It is respectfully submitted that on the one hand the Hon’ble Speaker has referred the matter to the Privileges Committee Has been sent and also 7 MLAs of the opposition party have been suspended.
“It is noteworthy to mention that the MLAs were penalized/suspended before the Privileges Committee gave its findings/report. This action would amount to punishment without adjudication,” the petition said.
It also alleged that the Speaker’s action was “ex facie discriminatory”.
The petition highlighted that the budget is the last full budget before the assembly elections in 2025 and hence the presence of the opposition members is of utmost importance.
AAP MLA Dilip Pandey had moved a motion in the House for his suspension, which was accepted by Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel and the issue was referred to the privileges committee on February 15.
Barring Leader of Opposition Ramveer Singh Bidhuri, seven BJP members have been barred from attending the proceedings.
Due to the delay in finalizing the budget, the budget session has been extended till the first week of March.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
