The Delhi High Court today refused to grant an interim stay on the disqualification of former JD(U) president Sharad Yadav as a Rajya Sabha member but allowed him to draw his salary, allowances, perks and retain the bungalow.
It also restrained him from attending the Winter Session of Parliament, which started today. The session is scheduled to go on till January 5.
"The order (of the Rajya Sabha chairman) cannot be stayed at this stage," Justice Vibhu Bakhru said and made it clear that the interim directions would be there till the disposal of Yadav's main petition.
However, the judge allowed Yadav to draw his salary, allowances, perks and retain the bungalow allotted to him as a member of Parliament.
The court also issued notice to the Rajya Sabha chairman besides Ram Chandra Prasad Singh, who is leader of the JD(U) in the Upper House, on Yadav's plea challenging December 4 order of the chairman disqualifying him as an MP.
It asked the the RS chairman and Singh to file their counter affidavits in three weeks and fixed the main petition for hearing on March 1 next year.
The interim order came on Yadav's plea challenging his disqualification on several grounds, including that he was not given any chance to present his viewpoint by the Rajya Sabha chairman before passing an order against him and his colleague and MP, Ali Anwar on December 4.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Yadav, sought an interim stay of the order of Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu to enable him to attend the Parliament session.
"If the order is not stayed during the pendency of the proceedings then he would suffer an irreparable loss, in as much as he would be deprived of participating in the proceedings of the House and will not be able to get himself elected for the remainder of his term," Sibal argued.
Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Sanjay Jain, appearing for the Rajya Sabha chairman, opposed the grant of any interim relief to Yadav.
The ASG said if Yadav was permitted to participate in the Winter Session of Parliament, it would amount to his reinstatement.
Sibal contended that the top court had in the past permitted a legislator in every similar matter to participate in a session, but the person was not entitled to vote.
He argued that criticising Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's action of joining the BJP would not amount to voluntarily giving up the party's membership and contended that no evidence was led to show how Yadav had given up his party membership.
Singh, the JD(U) leader in the Upper House, had sought their disqualification on the ground that they had attended a rally of opposition parties in Patna in violation of its directives.
Yadav had joined hands with the opposition after the JD (U) president and Bihar chief minister dumped the alliance with the RJD and the Congress in Bihar and tied up with the BJP in July this year.
Yadav was elected to the Rajya Sabha last year and his term was scheduled to end in July 2022. Anwar's term was to expire early next year. Both were disqualified under the Anti- Defection Act.
The plea filed through advocate Nizam Pasha said that the order has disqualified Yadav n an "extremely casual and callous way".
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