The Lok Sabha Speaker has issued notices to 20 rebel Trinamool Congress MPs facing disqualification proceedings under the anti-defection law, Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta told the Supreme Court on Tuesday.
Mehta made the submission while responding to a petition filed by TMC general secretary and Lok Sabha leader Abhishek Banerjee, who has sought a time-bound decision from Speaker Om Birla on the disqualification pleas.
The petition, filed under Article 32 of the Constitution, was heard by a Bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana. Justice Bagchi stressed that merely issuing notices would not resolve the matter. "It is not a question of issuing notices; it is a question of concluding the proceedings within a time frame," he said.
The Bench was initially inclined to issue notice to the respondents, including the Speaker. The SG, however, requested that no notice be issued to the Speaker or his office, saying he would represent the Speaker before the court.
The Solicitor General told the Bench that he had instructions to confirm that notices had already been issued to the 20 MPs in connection with the disqualification petitions.
Senior Advocate Kalyan Bandhopadhyay appeared for Abhishek Banerjee. The court subsequently issued notice to the 20 rebel MPs.
The MPs named in the proceedings include Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, Sudip Bandyopadhyay, Satabdi Roy, Prasun Banerjee, Rachana Banerjee, Jagadish Chandra Barma Basunia, Partha Bhowmick, Arup Chakraborty, Adhikari Deepak Dev, Sayani Ghosh, Bapi Haldar, Md Abu Taher Khan, Kalipada Saren Kherwal, Asit Kumar Mal, June Maliah, Mitali Bag, Khalilur Rahaman, Mala Roy, Sharmila Sarkar and Pathan Yusuf.
The dispute follows a rebellion within the TMC's parliamentary ranks. The 20 MPs have sought to distance themselves from the party and align with the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI), while also seeking recognition as a separate group in the Lok Sabha.
The TMC has argued that the MPs were elected on its symbol and that their subsequent move to another political formation attracts the anti-defection provisions of the Constitution.
Abhishek Banerjee had earlier submitted individual disqualification petitions before the Speaker and sought their early disposal. The Speaker also allotted separate seating arrangements to the 20 MPs during the Monsoon Session. The TMC's Supreme Court petition names the Lok Sabha Speaker and Secretary General, along with the 20 MPs, as respondents.
The matter comes amid wider litigation over the Speaker's role in deciding defection disputes. The Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) faction had earlier approached the Supreme Court challenging the recognition of the merger of its MPs with the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena.
