Thread by @savukku

Thread

Trouble for Edappadi Palanisamy government. DMK moves Supreme Court for a direction to TN speaker to disqualify 11 MLAs who had voted against EPS government as per 10th schedule of the Constitution. DMK’s petition is likely to be taken up for hearing on Thursday. 1/n

Earlier, in February 2020, when DMK petition was heard by SC, a Bench headed by CJI, observed, “We think that the three years delay is unnecessary (on the part of Speaker) Tell us whether you are going to take action. 2/n

We want to know this. These are no reasons for not acting. Irrespective of what you think about the judgement (Manipur case), the judgement holds the field. Apart from the judgement, we think that the Speaker should not sit over the disqualification issue for so long”. 3/n

This petition was closed after TN govt informed SC that notice had been served on the 11 MLAs on 14th February. But even after a lapse of 3 months, no action has been taken by TN speaker, due to which DMK has moved the SC. 4/n

In a related and interesting development, the Manipur High Court today, barred 7 MLAs from entering the assembly who were supposed to be disqualified.

The Manipur HC today barring the 7 MLAs came down heavily on the Speaker. 5/n

It said, “The Hon’ble Speaker acting as the Tribunal, ought to act fairly and reasonably but he has utterly failed to do so. The Hon’ble Speaker appears to have no respect for the provisions of the Constitution of India including Article 14 6/n

which strikes at the root of arbitrariness, malafide etc. and the decisions of the Honb’le Court as well.

The Hon’ble Speaker is solely responsible for it. It is the Hon’ble Speaker who has attracted the attention of the Court on account of his failure to discharge 7/n

his duties in accordance with law”
Further the following ruling of the Manipur High Court is squarely applicable to Tamil Nadu. “It is an undeniable fact that the Hon’ble Speaker has failed to decide the petitions filed by the petitioners before him within a reasonable time”
8/n

Manipur HC further said today, “Being a Tribunal, the Hon’ble Speaker ought to have applied his mind taking into account the urgency and importance of the issue involved herein in view of the outer limit fixed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court,
9/n

when a period of more than one and half year had already lapsed from the date of filing the petitions”

In Tamil Nadu, TN speaker has sat on the disqualification petitions for more than 3 years.
10/n

It would be highly impossible for the TN speaker to defend his inaction from February 2017 on the disqualification petitions in SC.

End