Hyderabad: The BRS on Thursday objected to the appeals filed by Telangana assembly secretary against the order of a single judge in the disqualification case of three BRS turncoat MLAs – Danam Nagender, Kadiyam Srihari and Tellam Venkat Rao – who subsequently joined Congress.
Arguing the party’s case before a bench of Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice J Sreenivas Rao, senior counsel Gandra Mohan Rao said there was nothing to be aggrieved about the single judge’s order which merely contained a direction to the assembly secretary to place the pleas seeking disqualification before the speaker and obtain a time frame for its resolution.
“But the assembly secretary preferred appeals against this order saying he was aggrieved with the direction of the single judge,” Mohan Rao said.
“Not only this, even the language in his petition has political overtones because he sought to justify the speaker’s inaction in deciding the disqualification pleas by referring to the delay by the speaker during BRS rule. If there was any delay during BRS govt then that cannot be a precedent. A bad precedent does not become a good law,” the BRS counsel said. The assembly secretary could not make out any grievance in his appeal and hence his appeals were not maintainable, the senior counsel said, seeking dismissal of the appeals.
“The speaker must implement the mandate of the Constitution. If he frustrates the object of the law then courts must step in, which is what the Keisham Meghachandra judgment of the apex court says. The single judge too said the same and hence it needs no interference,” Mohan Rao said.
The case of Danam Nagender is a clear case for disqualification because he got elected as a BRS MLA and within months unsuccessfully contested as a Congress MP candidate. There is no need even to notify him, he deserves to be disqualified straightaway, he said. “If a speaker fails to exercise his jurisdiction, then it is an invitation for judicial review,” he said.
Earlier in the day, senior advocates D Prakash Reddy and B Mayur Reddy argued the cases of turncoat MLAs and found fault with the order of the single judge which, according to them, was contrary to the provisions of the 10th schedule and also judgments of the Supreme Court. The bench would resume hearing on Friday.
