Karnataka Crisis: Supreme Court Orders Status Quo, Refers Rebel MLAs’ Case To Constitution Bench
A Constitution bench of the Supreme Court will start hearing the case of rebel Congress-JD(S) MLAs from Karnataka from July 16.
The Supreme Court today ordered status quo in the resignation of Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) government’s rebel MLAs in Karnataka.
The Chief Justice of India-led bench directed the Speaker not to take any decision on the resignation or disqualification of the members of the legislative assembly. The apex court referred the case to a Constitution bench which will start hearing the case from July 16.
Appearing for the rebel Karnataka Congress MLAs, Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi argued that the Speaker has kept the resignations pending so as to disqualify the MLAs, making the resignations infructuous.
Rohatgi requested the court to grant time to the Speaker till Monday to decide on the resignations but he should not act on the disqualification petitions against the MLAs in the meantime.
Rohatgi’s submissions were countered by Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who was appearing for the Karnataka Assembly Speaker. Singhvi argued that the constitution mandates that the Speaker should satisfy himself on the genuineness of the resignations and ensure that they have been submitted voluntarily.
Singhvi said the attempt by the MLAs was to escape the consequences of anti-defection law and that is why they have decided to resign. Why should a person who wants to resign be scared of disqualification, Singhvi asked.
Senior Advocate Rajeev Dhawan also argued that the MLAs had no grounds to approach the Supreme Court with a writ petition under Article 32. Article 32 allows any person to approach the Supreme Court if there is a violation of their fundamental right.
Dhawan who was appearing for Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy also argued that the resignations of the MLAs were submitted to the Governor who then forwarded it to the speaker. The Supreme Court in a previous case has made it clear that the Governor has no role in such a situation, argued Dhawan.
Yesterday, 10 rebel Karnataka MLAs, who were camping in Mumbai, arrived in Bengaluru on two special flights, hours after the Supreme Court allowed them to meet the Assembly Speaker to convey their decision to resign.
Later in the evening, State Assembly Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar said almost all MLA resignations so far were in the proper format, but he was under “no obligation” to act in haste until he was convinced that they were genuine and voluntary.