SC seeks response from TN Speaker on disqualification plea against OPS

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday wanted to know why the Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker has kept pending disqualification petitions against present deputy chief minister O Panneerselvam (OPS) and 10 other MLAs for more than three years though he had disqualified 18 AIADMK MLAs in 2017 within a month of filing of similar petitions.
Appearing for petitioner and DMK leader R Sakkrapani, senior advocate Kapil Sibal told a bench of Chief Justice S A Bobde and Justices R S Reddy and A S Bopanna that the inexplicable delay by the Speaker is hitting at the root of fairness in democracy. "The Supreme Court in a Manipur MLA's disqualification case had recently fixed an outer limit of three months for the Speaker to decide such petitions," he said, adding that SC guideline is not being followed by the TN Speaker.
The bench issued notice to the Speaker's office and sought response within four weeks. Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for AIADMK, protested issuance of notice and said he wanted to argue on this point. The bench said, "We have decided to issue notice without hearing you. You can argue your heart's content when the matter is heard after four weeks." Sibal sought an early hearing date saying the term of the Assembly is going to expire in May 2021. The SC said, "May 2021 is far away."
Sakkrapani's petition filed through advocate Amit Anand Tiwari said OPS had become the chief minister in December 2016 immediately after the demise of J Jayalalithaa but had to resign in February to make way for E K Palaniswami (EPS). The two factions of AIADMK led by EPS and OPS were at loggerheads and the OPS faction with 11 MLAs voted against the trust vote sought by EPS government in Assembly on February 18, 2017. Disqualification petitions filed before the Speaker against OPS and 10 other MLAs, who had voted against the EPS government, are still pending, he said.
He said on August 22, 2017, 18 AIADMK MLAs had withdrawn support to the EPS government, a day after EPS and OPS factions merged. Within three days, the Chief Whip of AIADMK moved petitions for disqualification of the 18 MLAs before the Speaker.
Withdrawal of support by 18 MLAs led to opposition DMK moving a no-confidence motion against EPS government in Assembly on September 18, 2017. On the same day, the Speaker decided to disqualify all 18 rebel MLAs to make it easy for the EPS government to win the confidence of the House.
Citing a recent judgment of the SC in the case relating to disqualification of a Manipur MLA, Tiwari said that the SC had said three months would be a reasonable period for the Speaker to decide petitions seeking disqualification of MLAs. But, the Speaker has decided to keep pending for more than three years the disqualification petitions against OPS and 10 other MLAs.