Tribune News Service
New Delhi, October 24
In a new twist to the political drama in Karnataka, state’s Assembly Speaker V Hegde Kageri on Thursday told the Supreme Court he was ready to hear the 17 MLAs disqualified by his predecessor KR Ramesh Kumar and take a “fresh call”.
“We have no difficulty in hearing them all (disqualified MLAs) and taking a fresh call,” Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told a three-judge Bench headed by Justice NV Ramana, which is hearing petitions of the 17 MLAs challenging Kumar’s decision to disqualify them from the Assembly.
“Under the scheme of the Constitution, as I have read, a legislator has the right to resign. Except the contingency provided in Article 190(3), there is no room for resignation being rejected,” he told the Bench, which also included Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Krishna Murari.
Article 190 (3) of the Constitution envisages that the Speaker or the Chairman of the Assembly has to only ascertain whether the resignation of a lawmaker is voluntary and genuine and if not, he will not accept such resignations.
Kumar’s decision to disqualify 17 MLAs had eventually led to the fall of Congress-JD(S) government headed by HD Kumaraswamy, who was forced to resign after losing a trust vote. Thereafter, BS Yediyurappa-led government was formed in the state.
Asserting their “indefeasible right” to resign as legislators, the 17 disqualified Karnataka MLAs had on Wednesday said Kumar’s decision to disqualify them was an act of “vengeance” and “mala fide”.
“There is no doubt that a member has an indefeasible right to resign (from the house). It is only to be seen that the resignation is voluntary and genuine…The whole thing smacks of vengeance and mala fide,” senior counsel Mukul Rohatgi had submitted on their behalf. On Thursday, senior counsel Rajeev Dhavan, representing Kumaraswamy, contested Rohatgi’s arguments.
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via Today’s News Headlines
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