Lawyers absent, SC refuses to dispose of Karnataka MLAs' plea

NEW DELHI: With the Congress-JDU coalition government swept out of power in Karnataka by the trust vote, senior advocates Mukul Rohatgi and A M Singhvi absented themselves from the hearing in the Supreme Court on Wednesday on a petition by two MLAs who had sought a direction to the Speaker to complete the proceedings by Monday.
Dissipation of the political heat made the two senior advocates take it lightly as most thought it was a mere formality for the SC on Wednesday to dispose of the petition as infructuous. On Monday, the SC had refused to entertain Rohatgi's request for granting urgent hearing for a direction to the Speaker for early conclusion of the trust vote which had been dragging since July 18.
On Tuesday, the petition was listed for hearing in the SC. Rohatgi, in his usual candour, accused the Speaker of playing 'ducks and drakes' to prolong debate on the trust vote and argued that he must be directed to conclude the debate.
But Singhvi argued that it was constitutionally incomprehensible for the Supreme Court to intervene in an ongoing session of the assembly and direct Speaker to curtail the debate. "Can anyone ask the SC to pass an interim order when it is holding final hearing on a case," he had asked. This had persuaded the SC to adjourn hearing to Wednesday.
On Wednesday, junior advocates were present from both sides but there was no sign of Singhvi or Rohatgi. A bench headed by CJI Ranjan Gogoi asked - "Where are Mr Rohatgi and Mr Singhvi? They had taken so much of the court's time arguing the matter. We will pass orders only in the presence of the senior advocates."
To get the matter disposed off, advocate Diksha Rai informed the court that it would not be possible for Rohatgi to be present as he is out of station. The CJI-led bench said, "We will wait for him till evening." Rai thought of another way to get the matter disposed of and pleaded for permission to withdraw the petition. That too did not work and the petition is likely to be listed again on Thursday, just for its formal disposal.
The MLAs - R Shankar from Karnataka Pragnyavantha Jonathan Party and independent H Nagesh - said though the coalition government has been reduced to minority with nearly 20 MLAs withdrawing support, the Speaker and other political leaders have on one ground or other attempted to stall the trust vote to allow a minority government to continue in violation of constitutional provisions.