India / Raj Speaker moves SC against HC order for status quo on disqualification notice

Jaipur: Rajasthan Joshi’s petition argued that the high court, which agreed to examine the constitutional validity of a provision in the anti-defection law, amounted to “gross judicial indiscipline and judicial impropriety” since a Constitution Bench of the top court had already given its ruling way back in 1992. The high court, Joshi argued, could not act as a appellate court over the correctness of the decision by the top court.

Joshi also cited verdicts by the top court to argue that there was “no question” of the high court entertaining the joint petition filed by 19 Congress lawmakers led by Sachin Pilot because only the “final decision of the speaker is amenable to judicial review on limited grounds”.

The high court had, however, stopped speaker CP Joshi from taking any action on the disqualification notices that he had issued to the 19 lawmakers on a complaint from the Congress. The Congress had invoked the anti-defection law to question the conduct of the rebel lawmakers and asked the speaker to disqualify them. The rebels, who were given three days to respond, however, rushed to the high court which stayed proceedings.

The legal battle in Jaipur and national capital Delhi is the fallout of a rebellion by about 18 lawmakers led by Pilot against chief minister Ashok Gehlot. The Congress appeared to have outsmarted the rebels about a fortnight back when it moved for their disqualification. If speaker CP Joshi concurs with the ruling Congress in Rajasthan, the strength of the assembly would have declined, lowering the majority mark. This move, however, didn’t succeed due to the high court’s intervention.

Ashok Gehlot, who has a tenuous majority in the 200-member assembly with about 101-102 lawmakers on his side, had gone ahead to ask governor Kalraj Mishra to convene the assembly so that he could prove his majority. But Kalraj Mishra has been holding off for now, insisting that the government should give a 21-day notice for the assembly to be convened.

At one point, Mishra said he was fine with exempting the provision that requires 21-day advance notice to be given provided the Gehlot government declares in writing that he intends to face the trust vote. The Gehlot government has been reluctant to spell out the agenda of the assembly session, accusing Raj Bhavan of violating constitutional norms and not issuing the formal orders as requested by the state cabinet.