Hyderabad: The Supreme Court on Monday, February 10 heard petitions filed by Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president KT Rama Rao and Huzurabad MLA Padi Kaushik Reddy regarding the delay in disqualification of defected MLAs from the Telangana Assembly.
Earlier, a bench of Justice BR Gavai and K Vinod Chandran questioned the Telangana Assembly Speaker about what constitutes a “reasonable period” for deciding disqualification pleas. When the matter was taken up on Monday, Justice Gavai reminded senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, representing the Assembly Secretary, that he was supposed to seek instructions on this timeline.
As Rohatgi sought additional time, Justice Gavai firmly stated, “In a democracy, the rights of parties can’t be permitted to be frustrated.”
Justice Chandran added, “If you don’t give us reasonable time, we are reasonable men.”
The court scheduled the next hearing for February 18.
KTR files petition on defected MLAs in Telangana Assembly
On January 16, the BRS filed a Special Leave Petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court against the defected MLAs. The petitions urge the Supreme Court to direct the Telangana Assembly Speaker and Secretary to take prompt action and establish a timeline for resolving the disqualification cases.
The petition was filed against three MLAs including Danam Nagender, Kadiyam Srihari, and Tellam Venkat Rao and a writ petition against seven others mentioning Pocharam Srinivas Reddy, Kale Yadaiah, M Sanjay Kumar, Krishnamohan Reddy, Mahipal Reddy, Prakash Goud and Arekapudi Gandhi.
BRS highlighted that despite a November 2024 ruling by the Telangana High Court directing the Assembly speaker to act on the disqualification pleas under the anti-defection law, no action has been taken since then.
The High Court’s division bench led by Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice J Srinivas Rao had dismissed a petition seeking direct disqualification and left the matter to the Speaker’s discretion.
Citing the Keisham Meghachandra case, which emphasized the Speaker’s duty to decide on disqualification petitions within a reasonable timeframe, the BRS has appealed to the Supreme Court to enforce a decision within four weeks.
The decision to file the petitions followed discussions led by senior BRS leader and Siddipet MLA T Harish Rao with a legal team in New Delhi on January 15.
The BRS also noted the lack of action from the Assembly Speaker and Legislature Secretary pointing out that even preliminary notices were not issued to the defected MLAs.
On February 2, the Supreme Court reprimanded the Telangana Assembly Speaker Gaddam Prasad for setting a deadline over the decision on the disqualification of the MLAs who defected from the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) after the Telangana Assembly elections. Gaddam Prasad was granted one week to inform the Apex court about the timeline.
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