Telangana High Court reserves judgement on MLA disqualification petition

The Telangana High Court has reserved its judgment on the appeals filed by the Telangana Assembly Secretary challenging the single judge’s order regarding disqualification petitions.

By Legal Correspondent

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court Chief Justice’s Bench has reserved its judgment on the appeals filed by the Telangana Assembly Secretary challenging the single judge’s order regarding disqualification petitions. The appeals, filed on September 30, raised constitutional issues, prompting the court to hear extensive arguments from both sides.

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Advocate General A. Sudarshan Reddy represented the government, while Ravindra Srivastava appeared for the Law Department. Senior Advocates Raghuram, Mayur Reddy, and Jandyala Ravishankar represented the defected MLAs, Gandra Mohan Rao represented BRS MLAs who sought disqualification and the BJP Legislative Party leader Eleti Maheshwar Reddy was represented by senior counsel J. Prabhakar.

The bench heard daily arguments over the past week, with the last session concluding on Tuesday. The petitions involve the challenges to the defection of MLAs Kadiyam Srihari from Station Ghanpur, Tellam Venkat Rao from Kothagudem and Danam Nagender from Khairatabad, who won on BRS tickets but later joined Congress. BRS MLAs KP Vivekanand and Padi Kaushik Reddy filed petitions seeking the disqualification of these legislators. BJP leader Maheshwar Reddy filed a petition claiming the Speaker was refusing to grant time for a complaint regarding the disqualification of these MLAs.

On September 9, the single judge had ordered the matter to be heard within four weeks, setting a deadline for the disqualification petitions. As that deadline approached, the Assembly Secretary filed an appeal on September 30, seeking to quash the single judge’s order. During the hearing, the Advocate General argued that the directions of a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court should not be disregarded, emphasizing that decisions from larger benches are final and must be adhered to. He pointed out that the current case was distinct from Keisham Meghachandra Singh case. Previous rulings, such as in the case of Erra Bellari Dayakar Rao, this High Court had stated that it could not intervene in Speaker’s duties, he pointed out. The Advocate General also remarked that the petitions filed in the High Court by BRS MLAs, who defected within 10 days of filing a complaint with the Speaker’s office, were not in line with established legal norms. He requested that the single judge’s order be annulled and fresh directions be issued.

In response senior counsel stated that it was not correct to state petitioners have come to court within 10 days as 6 month’s time has passed since the disqualification petitions were submitted. The bench, headed by Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice J. Srinivas Rao, has reserved its judgment.