The Supreme Court dismissed a petition filed by former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s side seeking directions to the West Bengal Assembly Speaker to swiftly decide on disqualification petitions against dissident Trinamool Congress MLAs.
The Supreme Court also directed the petitioner to approach the Calcutta High Court in this matter.
After the BJP won the West Bengal Assembly election and formed the government, a split emerged in the Trinamool Congress. In this election, with Mamata having lost, 58 of the 80 MLAs who had contested and won as Trinamool Congress candidates rejected her leadership and left, beginning to function as a dissident faction.
Mamata proposed Trinamool Congress MLA Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay as the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly. However, opposing this, Ritabrata Banerjee was nominated for the post on behalf of the disgruntled Trinamool Congress MLAs.
Following this, Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay filed a petition in the Calcutta High Court, objecting to the West Bengal Assembly Speaker’s acceptance of Ritabrata Banerjee as the Leader of the Opposition. However, on June 18, the Calcutta High Court refused to grant an interim stay on the Speaker’s order.
Petition to disqualify 10 MLAs:
Following this, Mamata filed a petition in the Supreme Court on July 8 this year, seeking an order directing the Speaker of the Assembly to initiate disqualification proceedings against 10 MLAs, including Rithabrata Banerjee, Firhad Hakim, and Arup Roy, accusing them of contesting on behalf of the Trinamool Congress and then leaving the party after winning.
In her petition, she also stated that, in line with previous Supreme Court rulings, the Speaker should decide on the disqualification petitions within three months, by Oct. 8.
The Supreme Court, which dismissed this petition on Sept. 28, said that in disqualification matters under the Tenth Schedule, the Speaker should ordinarily take a decision within three months. However, the Supreme Court urged the Speaker to decide on this matter by Oct. 8.
No decision even after 5 months:
In this situation, the Speaker issued disqualification notices to the 10 accused MLAs on Oct. 8. Challenging this, Sobhandev Chattopadhyay filed another petition in the Supreme Court.
He alleged that, in the matter of disqualification of dissident MLAs, the Speaker did not follow the Supreme Court’s earlier order setting a time limit. “Even after five months, no action has been taken,” he said.
This petition was heard on Thursday by a bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Jayamalya Bagchi.
Then, in the order issued by the bench of judges, it was stated: “We think it would be appropriate for the petitioner to approach the Calcutta High Court in this matter. Accordingly, the present petition is dismissed. We request the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court to list this petition for immediate hearing and ensure a speedy resolution.”
