Was case of six disqualified Himachal Congress MLAs mishandled on first day of hearing in Supreme Court?
Petitioners sought adjournment as main lawyer Salve couldn’t make it to court
TNR Desk
Days after the six rebel Himachal Pradesh Congress MLAs petitioned the Supreme Court against their disqualification from the Vidhan Sabha, their case was heard by a three-judge bench on Tuesday (March 12, 2024) but the outcome wasn’t as they had anticipated.
The MLAs were to be represented by senior advocate Harish Salve, who is one of the country’s top lawyers, but as he was unavailable, BJP leader and former MP from Chandigarh Satya Pal Jain pleaded their case. At the very outset, Jain sought an adjournment saying they were being “led by Salve who was unable to join today”.
Why wasn’t HC approached, wonders SC
The seeking of an adjournment on the first day of hearing in a case that would decide the career of the six disqualified MLAs is something that legal experts have been questioning.
They say that the rebel leaders should have ensured the presence of their primary lawyer at any cost. “Seeking an adjournment on the opening day is tantamount to giving the opposing side (the Himachal government) additional time to employ manoeuvres to woo back some of the rebels MLAs, which the ruling Congress has been desperately trying to save its government,” said a political and legal expert.
The case was listed before by the three-judge bench comprising Justice Sanjiv Khanna, Justice Dipankar Dutta and Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra. Justice Khanna asked Jain why couldn’t they move the Himachal Pradesh High Court. “What’s the fundamental right (violated in this case),” asked Justice Khanna. As Jain replied “we have been elected”, Justice Khanna wondered “that’s not a fundamental right”.
A rare case, contend petitioners
Jain said it was a “rare case” as the MLAs had been disqualified from the Vidhan Sabha within 18 hours of their purported act of omission. “That’s disputed by them (the Himachal government). Alright, we will hear it on Monday,” said Justice Khanna, deferring the case to March 18.
The petitioner in the case is Chaitanya Sharma, disqualified Congress MLA from Gagret, while the respondent is the Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly Speaker. The advocate on record for Chaitanya is Mrinal Gopal Elker while for the Himachal government, which has filed a caveat, are VKC Law Offices and Nishanth Patil.
Chaitanya, supported by other disqualified MLAs Sudhir Sharma (Dharamshala), Rajinder Rana (Sujanpur), Ravi Thakur (Lahaul-Spiti), Inder Dutt Lakhanpal (Barsar) and Davinder Bhutto (Kutlehar), have filed the petition challenging their disqualification from the Vidhan Sabha by Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania.
The Speaker took the action under the anti-defection law as the six MLAs allegedly violated the Congress whip by not remaining present in the Assembly during the passage of the budget. The MLAs have deemed the Speaker’s decision incorrect and have demanded its revocation.
MLAs shifted from Rishikesh to Delhi
The rebel MLAs were initially holed up in a Panchkula hotel and then relocated to a private hotel at Rishikesh in Uttarakhand, from where they are learnt to have been moved to Delhi on Tuesday. Apart from the six Congress rebels, three Independent legislators and BJP MLAs Bikram Thakur and Trilok Jamwal had also been residing at the Rishikesh hotel.
The Himachal Pradesh Congress has been embroiled in an internal turmoil following the Rajya Sabha election debacle. The Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu government had to face an embarrassing situation when party’s Rajya Sabha nominee Abhishek Manu Singhvi, a renowned legal luminary, faced defeat despite the Congress having comfortable majority with 40 MLAs in the 68-member Vidhan Sabha.
The BJP had 25 MLAs of its own but it managed the votes of the six Congress rebels and three Independent MLAs. BJP’s Harsh Mahajan won after a draw of lots as both the candidates were tied at 34 votes each.
