The Telangana High Court delivered a significant judgment on petitions concerning the disqualification of legislators accused of party defection. The division bench, comprising Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice J. Srinivas Rao, ruled that there is no time limit for the Speaker to decide on such matters. This decision overturned a previous single-judge directive that mandated the Speaker to resolve the issue within four weeks.
The petitions were filed against three MLAs—Station Ghanpur MLA Kadiyam Srihari, Bhadrachalam MLA Tellam Venkata Rao, and Khairatabad MLA Danam Nagender—who were elected on a BRS ticket but subsequently joined the Congress. BRS MLAs Padi Kaushik Reddy and K.P. Vivekanand filed petitions seeking their disqualification under the Anti-Defection Law.
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Division Bench’s Observations
The court emphasized that decisions on disqualification petitions must align with the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution and the provisions of the Anti-Defection Law. It noted that the Speaker should consider the legislative assembly’s five-year tenure while addressing such matters and decide at an appropriate time.
The bench also ruled that the single judge had overstepped by intervening in the Speaker’s prerogative, reiterating that the Speaker retains full autonomy in handling these petitions.
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During the hearings, Advocate General Sudarshan Reddy argued that the single judge’s intervention was unwarranted. Senior advocates Mohan Rao and J. Ramachandra Rao, representing the BRS, explained that the petitioners approached the High Court only after the Speaker refused to accept their disqualification complaints.
The High Court’s ruling upholds the Speaker’s discretion in addressing disqualification petitions while ensuring compliance with constitutional guidelines. The judgment is seen as a reaffirmation of the Speaker’s role and the procedural autonomy granted under the Tenth Schedule.