New Delhi, Aug 25 — The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued notice to 20 rebel Trinamool Congress MPs on a plea filed by party National General Secretary, Abhishek Banerjee, challenging the delay in deciding the disqualification petitions against them.
A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI), Surya Kant, and comprising Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana issued notice to the rebel MPs, but refrained from issuing notice to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, the Centre’s second-highest law officer, urged the CJI Kant-led Bench not to issue notice to the Speaker.
"I have some reservations about issuing notice to the Speaker," he said. The Solicitor General informed the apex court that the Speaker has already issued notices to the 20 rebel MPs on the disqualification petitions filed by the Trinamool.
He submitted that he would appear on behalf of the Speaker and said that he had instructions to inform the top court that notices had been issued to the MPs in the disqualification proceedings.
Senior advocate Kalyan Banerjee appeared for Trinamool's Diamond Harbour Lok Sabha MP Abhishek Banerjee, who has filed the petition challenging the alleged delay by the Lok Sabha Speaker in deciding the disqualification petitions filed against the 20 rebel MPs under the anti-defection law.
The Supreme Court thereafter proceeded to issue notice to the 20 rebel MPs and sought their responses.
The respondents in the plea include the Lok Sabha Speaker, Secretary General and the 20 rebel MPs, including Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, Sudip Bandyopadhyay, Satabdi Roy, Prasun Banerjee, Rachana Banerjee, Jagadish Chandra Barma Basunia, Partha Bhowmick, Arup Chakraborty, Adhikari Deepak Dev, Sayani Ghosh, Bapi Haldar, Md Abu Taher Khan, Kalipada Saren Kherwal, Asit Kumar Mal, June Maliah, Mitali Bag, Khalilur Rahaman, Mala Roy, Sharmila Sarkar and Pathan Yusuf.
The Trinamool has maintained that the MPs were elected on the party's symbol and that their subsequent decision to join another political formation attracts the provisions of the anti-defection law.
Abhishek Banerjee had earlier filed separate disqualification petitions before Speaker Om Birla and repeatedly sought their expeditious disposal.
The dispute arose after the 20 MPs broke away from the Trinamool and joined the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI), claiming recognition as a separate parliamentary group.
The rebel faction had claimed the support of more than two-thirds of the Trinamool's Lok Sabha MPs and sought separate recognition in the Lok Sabha.
One of the rebel MPs, Jagadish Chandra Barma Basunia, had said that the group wanted to stake a claim as the "real Trinamool Congress".
However, the Mamata Banerjee-led faction of Trinamool has argued that merely having two-thirds of the legislators does not by itself satisfy the requirements of the merger provision under Paragraph 4 of the Tenth Schedule and that MPs voluntarily giving up the party's membership and joining another political formation attract disqualification.
The political issue had intensified after separate seating arrangements were allotted to the 20 rebel MPs in the Lok Sabha even as the disqualification petitions remained pending before the Speaker.
Earlier, Trinamool leaders, including Abhishek Banerjee, Mahua Moitra and Kalyan Banerjee, had met the Lok Sabha Speaker and sought immediate action on the disqualification petitions.
On July 27, Abhishek Banerjee again wrote to Speaker Om Birla urging expeditious disposal of the disqualification petitions against the 20 MPs. The outcome of the proceedings is expected to have significant political implications for the rebel MPs as well as the Trinamool.