Hyderabad: Refuting allegations of inaction against assembly speaker Gaddam Prasad Kumar on deciding pleas seeking disqualification of turncoat BRS MLAs, senior counsel P Sri Raghu Ram on Wednesday told the court that the issue related to legislature proceedings in which courts can't interfere.
He was arguing before a bench of Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice J Sreenivas Rao hearing three appeals filed by the assembly against a Sept 9 order of a single judge directing the assembly secretary to obtain a time frame from the speaker to decide the issue. Raghu Ram appeared for Danam Nagender who switched over to Congress after winning on a BRS ticket in Dec 2023 polls.
"BRS and BJP filed pleas before speaker and also rushed to the court. This is what people do while dealing with matters of regular administration and its laws. The single judge too dealt with the matter similarly," he said, reminding court it is an issue involving constitutional law.
He said the SC in Kihoto Hollohan judgment made it clear it will not interfere in a legislative process before decision. "Judicial review is not possible at this stage. Para 7 of the 10th schedule is a constitutional bar on courts. Not a statutory bar which can be ignored at times. This has expressly removed the jurisdiction of courts through a constitutional amendment. That is the law of the land," Raghu Ram said.
He also argued that the facts in two judgments of the SC relied upon by the complainants are different and not directly applicable to the current case. He said the complainants are abusing the process by approaching the court immediately after filing their pleas before assembly tribunal. The speaker has not committed any error of law in this case, he added.
Arguing the case of state law secretary, senior counsel Ravindra Srivastava said speaker should be given a reasonable time to decide petitions seeking disqualification of BRS MLAs – Danam Nagender, Kadiyam Srihari and Tellam Venkat Rao – facing allegations of switching over to Congress despite getting elected on BRS tickets without relinquishing their posts.
"The task entrusted to the speaker in such matters under 10th schedule is a judicial task. This requires a judicial process because speaker in such a task is called chairman of the tribunal. Courts, to a limited extent, can review the decision taken by the chairman of such a tribunal. But only after he takes a decision and not before," he said, citing Kihoto Hollohan judgment. "Since single judge interfered at pre-decisional stage, his order cannot be sustained," he added. The hearing will continue on Thursday.