SC reserves order on rebel Karnataka MLAs plea challenging disqualification

The Supreme Court on Friday reserved its verdict on petitions of 15 Karnataka MLAs challenging their disqualification by the state Assembly Speaker ahead of a floor test in June this year.

A bench headed by Justice N V Ramana reserved the judgement after a detailed hearing of arguments by the petitioners and respondents.

Senior lawyer Rajeev Dhavan, appearing for the Karnataka Speaker and Janata Dal (S), sought to refute the MLAs submission that the Speaker delayed his decision to take a decision on their resignation. "How are they (MLAs) saying that the Speaker deliberately delayed his decision on resignation?" he asked.

Dhavan said that the right to resignation was not absolute and the Speaker is entitled to consider whether the resignation foreshadows a pre-emptive effect when an MLA is trying to escape consequences of his actions.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Congress, told the bench that the matter needs to be referred to a Constitution Bench. "It raises matters of grave constitutional importance," he submitted before the bench.

He said that the court needs to interpret what "genuineness" of a resignation means.

"Cannot allow MLAs to subvert the system and resign a day before floor test because he wants to be a minister," Sibal argued, adding that "intention and motive of the MLAs must be considered by the Speaker while conducting an inquiry".

Senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for the Election Commission (EC), said, "there are certain provisions in Representation of People's (RP) Act, which states that the Speaker's jurisdiction ends after taking a call on disqualification."

The court was hearing arguments on the petition filed by 15 rebel Congress-JD (S) MLAs challenging the then Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar's order of disqualifying them from the assembly.

The EC had earlier deferred the assembly bypolls in Karnataka to December 5 as the case pertaining to the disqualification of 17 MLAs from the state is sub judice in the Supreme Court.

The 17 MLAs were disqualified in July by Ramesh Kumar and barred from contesting polls for the duration of the assembly, which ends in 2023. It had led to the fall of the Congress-JD (S) coalition government in the state.