Hyderabad, Feb 4 Telangana Assembly Secretary on Tuesday issued notices to 10 MLAs of Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) who defected to the ruling Congress party last year.
The notices have been issued on the petitions of the BRS, seeking disqualification of the defectors. The MLAs have sought time to respond to the notices sent by the Assembly Secretary.
The development comes two days after the Supreme Court asked the Telangana Assembly to define a "reasonable period" for a decision on disqualification pleas.
A bench of Justices B. R. Gavai and Justice Vinod Chandran instructed Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi (representing the Secretary of the Telangana Legislative Assembly) to consult the Speaker and provide their views on what would be a reasonable timeframe.
The Supreme Court adjourned to February 10 hearing on the petition filed by BRS MLA P. Kaushik Reddy seeking the disqualification of three MLAs Venkata Rao Tellam, Kadiyam Srihari, and Danam Nagender.
BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao also filed a petition in the Supreme Court, questioning the delay on the part of the Assembly Speaker in deciding on disqualification of seven other defected MLAs.
The Supreme Court has clubbed both the petitions and listed them for hearing on February 10.
The observations made by the Supreme Court during the recent hearing have cheered the BRS camp. K. T. Rama Rao on Monday asked party workers to be prepared to fight by-elections.
"It is impossible for Congress party to shield the defectors anymore as the Law laid down by the Constitution and prior judgments of Supreme Court are explicitly clear," said KTR.
A division bench of the Telangana High Court on November 22, 2024, had asked the Speaker to take a call on the disqualification within a "reasonable time".
It set aside an earlier order by a single judge directing the office of the Speaker to announce a schedule within four weeks for deciding the applications for disqualification of defected MLAs.
It suggested that the Speaker decide on disqualification applications as per the 10th Schedule of the Constitution of India within a ‘reasonable time’. The bench had observed that the Speaker should decide as per the Anti-Defection Act while keeping in mind the five-year term of the Assembly.
In September, the High Court passed an order directing the office of the Speaker to pronounce a schedule for the hearing of the petitions seeking disqualification of the MLAs and furnish a copy of the schedule to the Registry of the High Court.
The Legislative Secretary had challenged the order and filed appeal petitions.
BRS MLA P. Kaushik Reddy filed a petition in the Supreme Court, challenging the order of the High Court division bench.
Ten BRS MLAs have switched loyalties to the Congress party during the last year. They included former Deputy Chief Minister Kadiyam Srihari and former Assembly Speaker P. Srinivasa Reddy.
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