‘Speaker fully cognisant of three-month time-frame’: SC on Mamata faction plea against 10 rebel TMC MLAs | India News
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday said it has “every reason to believe” that the West Bengal assembly Speaker is “fully cognisant” of an order fixing a three-month time frame to decide petitions seeking disqualification of MLAs.The observations came from a bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana during the hearing of a plea filed by Sohandeb Chattopadhyay, a senior MLA of the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) faction.Chattopadhyay had approached West Bengal assembly Speaker Rathin Bose on July 7, seeking the disqualification of 10 MLAs of the rebel group on the grounds that they had “acted against the party’s interests.”“We have every reason to believe that the speaker is fully cognisant of the decision of this court and he will make an endeavour to take an appropriate decision within the time-frame fixed,” PTI quoted the bench as saying. The bench was referring to a January 2020 Supreme Court order that set a three-month timeline for the-then Manipur assembly Speaker to decide a disqualification petition.“In this case, the three-month period would expire on October 10,” the bench added before disposing of the plea.The Supreme Court’s observations came days after the West Bengal assembly secretariat issued notices to the 10 MLAs aligned with the rebel TMC camp, seeking their replies within a week to a disqualification petition filed by the Mamata Banerjee-led faction.In his petition, Chattopadhyay sought directions for the Speaker to expeditiously decide the disqualification petition filed against the 10 legislators, including Ritabrata Banerjee, the leader of the opposition in the West Bengal assembly.Besides Ritabrata Banerjee, the notices were issued to Arup Roy, Firhad Hakim, Sandipan Saha, Akhruzzaman Ansari, Shiuli Saha, Sabina Yasmin, Biplab Mitra, Javed Khan and Rathin Ghosh.The TMC split following the West Bengal assembly elections in April, when the party was voted out of power after 15 years, paving the way for the BJP to form its first government in the state.
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The rebel faction claims to have the support of 65 of the 80 Trinamool MLAs elected in the polls.The confrontation has also spilled over into Parliament, with 20 Lok Sabha MPs aligned with the rebels quitting the TMC and joining the little-known Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI), which has declared its support for the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre.(With PTI inputs)
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