‘Gross contempt of court’: SC notice to Telangana Speaker over delay in deciding BRS MLAs disqualification
A bench led by Chief Justice of India BR Gavai said the Speaker’s inaction amounted to the ‘grossest kind of contempt’ of its earlier order
By - Sistla Dakshina Murthy
File Photo
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday issued a contempt notice to the Telangana Legislative Assembly Speaker Gaddam Prasad Kumar for failing to decide within the stipulated time the disqualification pleas against 10 Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MLAs who defected to the ruling Congress.
The BRS MLAs involved are Danam Nagender (Khairatabad), Kadiyam Srihari (Station Ghanpur), Pocharam Srinivas Reddy (Banswada), Tellam Venkat Rao (Bhadrachalam), M Sanjay Kumar (Jagtial), Arekapudi Gandhi (Serilingampally), T Prakash Goud (Rajendranagar), B Krishna Mohan Reddy (Gadwal), G Mahipal Reddy (Patancheru) and Kale Yadaiah (Chevella).
A bench led by Chief Justice of India BR Gavai said the Speaker’s inaction amounted to the ‘grossest kind of contempt’ of its earlier order.
Court criticises delay, grants temporary relief
Despite its sharp observations, the bench exempted the Speaker and other officials from personal appearance until further orders. The court also issued notice on a separate application filed by the Speaker’s office seeking an eight-week extension to conclude the proceedings.
Speaker’s office seeks extension
Senior advocates Mukul Rohatgi and Abhishek Singhvi, along with lawyer Sravan Kumar, appeared for the Speaker’s office and submitted that hearings in four cases had already been completed, while evidence recording had concluded in three others.
The CJI, however, remarked: “This should have been concluded. This is the grossest kind of contempt. It is for him to decide where he wants to celebrate the New Year.”
Next hearing in four weeks
The Supreme Court posted the matter for further hearing after four weeks. Rohatgi assured the bench that he would personally convey the court’s dissatisfaction to the Speaker and expressed hope that decisions would be delivered within the new timeline.
What is the contempt plea about?
The contempt petition arises from the Supreme Court’s July 31 judgment in a batch of writ pleas filed by BRS leaders KT Rama Rao (KTR), Padi Kaushik Reddy and KP Vivekanand.
In that ruling, the apex court had held that the Speaker acts as a tribunal while deciding disqualification petitions under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution and therefore cannot claim “constitutional immunity” in such matters. The Tenth Schedule deals with disqualification on grounds of defection.
