NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday adjourned to the next year the petition of former Goa Congress president Girish Chodankar, challenging the Bombay High Court’s Goa bench junking a plea for disqualification of 12 MLAs defecting to the BJP from Congress and Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) in 2019.
A Bench of Justices M R Shah and Hima Kohli at one stage hinted to junk the petition when it asked whether the petition has not become “infructuous” since the next election has already taken place, but it agreed to schedule the matter for hearing next year to consider the legal questions involved. The respondents’ counsel submitted that this has become a purely an academic exercise.
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The plea contended that the Speaker allowed protection to the Congress defectors, by invoking protection guaranteed to a legislature party member when the original political party of a member merges with another party.
The plea sought the apex court’s intervention, claiming the High Court order could lead to political chaos and also pointed out that the Speaker held that the “deemed merger” of Congress with the BJP had taken place. The plea said that this deemed merger was in teeth of the decisions passed by the same High Court.
It further argued the order would further promote evils of defections, which would be at loggerheads with the very object sought to be achieved through Tenth Schedule (anti defection law) of the Constitution.
On February 24, this year, the Bombay High Court at Goa dismissed the disqualification pleas and upheld the decision of the Goa speaker.
