Can’t finish proceedings in a day: Goa Speaker to SC

Two days before he was expected to take a decision on the disqualification of 10 Congress MLAs who defected to BJP after the 2019 Assembly polls, Goa Assembly Speaker on Wednesday filed an application seeking clarification on the Supreme Court’s February 10 order.

Speaker Rajesh Patnekar stated that while he will hear all respondents in the disqualification petitions on February 26, “it may not be possible to complete and conclude the proceedings in one day — 26.02.2021.”

In his application, Patnekar stated that the court had recorded a statement by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta on February 10 — that Mehta, appearing for the respondent/s, “states that the disqualification petition/s has been listed by the respondent — Speaker…for disposal on February 26.

Patnekar listed out chronology of events since the disqualification petition was filed by Goa Pradesh Congress Committee president Girish Chodankar against the 10 MLAs before the Speaker on August 8, 2019. Citing delay in taking the decision, Chodankar had urged the SC to direct the Speaker to decide on his petition.

The Supreme Court is expected to hear the matter in the first week of March.