The Supreme Court on Tuesday voiced concern over the Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla not taking a decision so far on petitions seeking disqualification of 20 MPs who broke away from the Trinamool Congress (TMC). The court described a three-month delay in deciding such pleas as a “red alert bell”.
According to the case record, internal political churn in West Bengal led to a split within the TMC. In the Lok Sabha, 20 of the party’s 28 MPs reportedly acted together under Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, who had been removed from the party whip’s post, and joined the Indian Nationalist Citizens Party.
The breakaway MPs also submitted a formal letter to the Speaker stating that two-thirds of the MPs had joined the new party, seeking protection under the anti-defection law provisions. Subsequently, the TMC filed petitions before the Speaker seeking disqualification of the 20 MPs.
The TMC then moved the Supreme Court seeking directions for an appropriate order requiring the Speaker to decide the disqualification petitions. The matter was heard by a bench comprising Chief Justice Suryakant and Justices Jaymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana.
After hearing arguments from senior advocate Kalyan Banerjee for the TMC and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta for the Centre, the bench said the Speaker must promptly discharge constitutional duties, while noting that no deadline could be imposed given the Speaker’s autonomy and jurisdiction. The hearing was adjourned for six weeks.
