Team Herald
PANJIM: Goa Assembly Speaker Ramesh Tawadkar will deliver his order in the disqualification matter against eight rebel Congress MLAs in the petition filed by Dominic John Noronha of Dramapur-Sirlim at 4:30 pm on Monday, October 14.
“I will see if I can give the decision in the Noronha case tomorrow (Monday),” Speaker said on Sunday.
After pronouncing his verdict, the Speaker will hear second disqualification petition filed by former Congress president Girish Chodankar.
The Speaker stated that efforts are on to speed up the hearings as per directions of the Supreme Court. The eight Congress MLAs had defected to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in September 2022.
During the arguments last week, the respondents argued that the concept of split of the political party was available under erstwhile Paragraph 3 of the Tenth schedule.
which has been deleted with effect from January 1, 2004 and it cannot be conflated with the concept of merger of a political party under Paragraph 4 of the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution. They stated that Paragraph 4 (1) of the Tenth Schedule envisages an actual/factual merger whereas Paragraph 4 (2) of the Tenth Schedule contemplates and provides for deemed merger by creating a legal fiction.
Both, the petitioner and respondents have relied upon various judgments by Speakers of different States.