Defection notices: Rajasthan Assembly Speaker to move SLP in Supreme Court against HC order

Rajasthan Assembly Speaker C.P. Joshi is planning to move a special leave petition in the Supreme Court against the High Court’s order asking him to defer the action on defection notices issued by him to Sachin Pilot and 18 other dissident Congress MLAs.

Mr. Joshi told mediapersons here on Wednesday that Rajasthan was heading towards a constitutional crisis with some elected members of the Assembly trying to circumvent the judiciary by questioning the Speaker’s powers to even issue a notice.

He respected the judiciary and had deferred the process/decision on notices twice, as per the High Court’s request. However, the role of all constitutional authorities was well-defined, he said.

The clarity on the roles of different institutions would help strengthen parliamentary democracy. “I do hope the Supreme Court will take cognisance of the matter to enable all institutions to play their role,” he said.

He hoped that the dignity of the office of the Assembly Speaker would be maintained.

It was a settled law that the Speaker had the final authority to take a decision in a matter relating to defection by MLAs, Mr. Joshi said.

The Speaker said there were more than one Supreme Court judgments which had laid down that the courts could not interfere before the Speaker delivered his ruling. “In the instant case, I simply issued show-cause notices. Even this power of mine has been challenged.”