Speaker must decide disqualification petitions within ‘reasonable time’, says Telangana High Court

Telangana High Court sets aside order on disqualification petitions of MLAs who switched parties, emphasizing timely Speaker decisions.

The Telangana High Court on Friday (November 22, 2024) set aside a single judge order instructing the Telangana Legislative Assembly Secretary to place before the Speaker a schedule for hearing the disqualification petitions of three MLAs who joined the ruling Congress party after having been elected as BRS nominees.

Disposing of the writ appeals filed by the Legislative Assembly Secretary, a bench of Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice J. Sreenivas Rao said the Speaker ‘must decide the disqualification petitions within a reasonable time’. The Bench said the Speaker should consider, while taking a call on the disqualification issue, the concept of reasonable time keeping in view the period of pendency of the pleas. The Speaker should bear in mind the object of the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution as well as the tenure of the Assembly in the matter, the Bench said in its order.

The Bench cited the decisions of the Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court in the cases of Subhash Desai, Kihoto Hollohan, Rajendra Sing Rana, and Keisham Meghachandra in the verdict. The Apex Court’s decisions in these matters laid down the legal principle that disqualification petitions should be decided by the Speaker within a reasonable time, the Division Bench said. The Bench made it clear that the Andhra Pradesh HC’s decision in the case of Errabelli Dayakar Rao vs Talasani Srinivas Yadav was taken before the Supreme Court passed an order in the Subhash Desai case.

“Our society is governed by the rule of law and the Constitution is supreme,” the Division Bench, led by the CJ, said. The Apex Court’s decisions in the matters of Kilhoto Hollohan, Rajendra Singh Rana and Subhash Desai set the grounds for the principle that Speaker exercises power under the Tenth Schedule to decide disqualification petitions and the same is subject to judicial review. Speaker is required to decide disqualification pleas within a reasonable time. “What would be the reasonable time depends in the facts and circumstances of each case,” the Division Bench said in the order. 

Danam Nagender, Kadiam Srihari and Tellam Venkat Rao got elected as MLAs from Khairatabad, Station Khanpur and Kothagudem constituencies on Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) tickets in the December 2023 Assembly elections. Later, they joined the Congress party, which came to power defeating the BRS, which won consecutively for two terms earlier. BRS MLAs Padi Kaushik Reddy and K.P. Vivekananda filed writ petitions stating that the Speaker was not taking decisions on their petitions seeking disqualification of their MLAs who had switched loyalty. BJP floor leader A. Maheshwar Reddy filed another writ petition.

A single judge passed a common order in the three pleas on September 8 directing the Assembly Secretary to place the petitions before the Speaker to fix a schedule for hearing on the matter. The Assembly Secretary filed the writ appeals challenging the single judge order.