Rajasthan High Court reserves order on petition filed by Sachin Pilot and 18 other dissident Congress MLAs, challenging the disqualification notices issued to them by the state assembly speaker. Order to be pronounced on 24th July, 2020 and no action to be taken against MLA’s till then.
A Division Bench of Indrajit Mahanty, CJ and Prakash Gupta, J., had adjourned the hearing on the petition filed by Sachin Pilot, the former deputy Chief Minister of Rajasthan, along with 18 other Congress MLAs, challenging the disqualification notice issued to them by the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly Speaker asking them to explain anti-party activities on 17th July, 2020.
Snapshot of the hearings [PTI]
Counsel for the speaker Abhishek Singhvi on Monday argued that the petition was premature as a decision was yet to be taken on disqualifying the MLAs from the House.
There is no scope for interference by a court over the show-cause notices issued by the speaker, he had said.
The speaker is supreme as far as the legislative assembly is concerned and the notices have been issued within the purview of the speaker’s power, Singhvi had said.
A lawyer appearing for the speaker had told reporters that the chief justice asked is the speaker bound to issue a notice on a petition seeking disqualification of such a nature without recording any reason.
Singhvi had argued that there was no requirement to record reasons as it was merely a show-cause notice.
The notices to the MLAs were served after the party complained to the speaker that the lawmakers had defied a whip to attend two CLP meetings last week on Monday and Tuesday.
The Pilot camp, however, argues that a party whip applies only when the assembly is in session.
Congress had sought action against Pilot and the other dissidents under paragraph 2(1)(a) of the 10th Schedule of the Constitution.
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