New Delhi:The rights of any party cannot be betrayed in a democracy, the Supreme Court said during a hearing on Monday. The court noted that it has the highest regard for the judiciary, legislature and executive, but that does not mean that the Scramble Act of Parliament should be broken. The Supreme Court said this while lamenting that decisions have been delayed in disqualification petitions of legislators.
A bench of Justices B.R. Gavai and K. Vinod Chandran was hearing two petitions, one by the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and others. The petitions challenged delays in hearings and the disposal of disqualification petitions. The hearing witnessed the Supreme Court probing the meaning of the term ‘reasonable time’ for the Speaker to decide on a disqualification petition.
This included a petition in the Supreme Court challenging the order of the Telangana High Court issued in November last year, which disqualified three BRS MLAs from joining the ruling Congress party. The other was regarding the disqualification of seven legislators who had defected. Telangana High Court | Representational imageA division bench of the Telangana High Court earlier said that it was for the Assembly Speaker to decide on disqualification petitions against the three MLAs and that it should be done within a ‘reasonable time.’
The Supreme Court observed that the delay in disposing of disqualification petitions is a cause of serious concern and said, “In a democracy, the rights of the parties cannot be violated.” He said that while we respect the other two branches (legislature and executive), it is not a case of violation of the Act of Parliament.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court asked the Speaker of the Telangana Assembly to explain what he meant by deciding on a disqualification petition within a ‘reasonable time’. The bench asked, “What do you think is reasonable time? The word reasonable time should be used in the dictionary. Counsel who appeared for the Assembly requested that the hearing be held a week later. The next hearing date has been slated for February 18 before the bench.
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