The Telangana High Court on Thursday reserved judgment in the case of three disqualified Members of Legislative Council (MLCs) of Telangana.
A division bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice Shameem Akther heard the arguments of counsel for the petitioners and the State in the the past four days. They had already presented the written submissions of their arguments. Declaring that the arguments had come to an end, the bench announced that orders were reserved in the case.
Telangana Legislative Council chairman K. Swamy Goud disqualified MLCs S. Ramulu Naik, R. Bhupathi Reddy and K. Yadava Reddy in June 2018 after they allegedly switched loyalties to the Congress. While the Governor nominated Mr. Naik to the Council, Mr. Bhupathi Reddy and Mr. K. Yadava Reddy were elected from the local bodies constituency and MLAs quota respectively. Before the Chairman disqualified them, the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) suspended them from the party. The disqualified legislators knocked the doors of the HC, challenging their disqualification on different grounds. Senior counsel from Supreme Court Anand Kapoor and Salman Khurshid appeared for Mr. Bhupathi Reddy and Mr. Ramulu Naik respectively and former Advocate General D. Prakash Reddy for Mr. Yadava Reddy.
‘Unanimously elected’
Initially, the petitions were heard by Justice Challa Kodanda Ram. The judge placed the petitions before the division bench headed by the ACJ after the Election Commission of India (ECI) counsel presented that it was mandatory that such petitions should be heard by a division bench only.
Senior counsel Anand Kapoor, challenging disqualification of Mr. Bhupathi Reddy, said his client should not be treated as TRS MLC since he was elected unanimously though fielded by that party. He challenged the validity of the rules in para eight in the 10th Schedule of the Constitution which were invoked to disqualify the MLC. He pointed out that the Council Chairman had notified that the Congress Council Legislature Party was merged with that of the TRS on one hand and disqualified the MLC on the charge of defecting to the Congress.
Senior counsel Prakash Reddy argued that Mr. Yadav Reddy was disqualified on the assumption of the Chairman that he was joining the Congress. The Chairman arrived at the conclusion based on newspaper clippings and news aired by TV channels.
Senior lawyer Salman Khurshid told the court that Mr. Naik was nominated by the Governor to the Council based on his social work. He was not an elected member and did not belong to any political party. Hence, his disqualification by the Chairman was not valid, he argued. Additional Advocate General J. Ramchandra Rao submitted to the court that Mr. Naik himself claimed that he had primary membership of the TRS in his writ petition.