M A I N   N E W S

Defection Row
Speaker, 5 Haryana MLAs move SC against HC order
R Sedhuraman
Legal Correspondent

New Delhi, January 2
Appeals have been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s December 20 order directing the Haryana Vidhan Sabha Speaker to take a decision before the end of April this year on the plea for disqualification of five MLAs for allegedly defecting from Haryana Janhit Congress (BL) to the Congress in 2009.

The appeals have been filed by the Speaker and five MLAs — Satpal Sangwan, Vinod Bhayana, Narendra Singh, Zile Ram Sharma and Dharma Singh.

The HC order was in violation of a 1992 apex court ruling advising the judiciary to stay away from entertaining petitions in matters pending with the Speaker, the petitioners contended in their appeals.

The HC had also ruled that the MLAs would be treated as “unattached members,” neither belonging to the Congress nor the Haryana Janhit Congress (BJC-Bhajan Lal). The HC ruling reduced the Bhupinder Singh Hooda government into a minority with just 41 MLAs in the 90-member House. However, there is no threat to its stability as it has the support of 7 Independent members.

The concept of unattached member as directed by the HC “is alien” to the entire scheme of the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution relating to defections, the petitioners contended.

The HC ought to have considered the fact that the five MLAs had claimed that the HJC (BL) had merged with the Congress following a unanimous decision taken by 75 of the 108 primary members of that party at a meeting held on November 8, 2009, it was contended in the appeals.

“It is respectfully submitted that orders regarding recognition of the merger dated 9.11.2009 and 10.11.2009 were passed under transactions of Rules of Business of parliamentary procedure which are immune to challenge by virtue of Article 212(1) of the Constitution,” the petitioners averred.

The petitioners are likely to plead for early hearing of their appeals later this week.