The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued notices to 20 rebel Trinamool Congress (TMC) Members of Parliament, seeking their responses on a writ petition filed by the party’s national general secretary and Lok Sabha leader Abhishek Banerjee. The petition challenges the alleged delay by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla in deciding disqualification petitions filed against the MPs under the anti-defection law.
A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and comprising Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana heard the matter. The court refrained from issuing a formal notice to the Lok Sabha Speaker after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Speaker and the Secretary General of the House, requested that the constitutional authority be spared.
What the petition seeks -
Banerjee’s petition, filed under Article 32 of the Constitution, contends that the Speaker has delayed action on 20 separate disqualification petitions submitted earlier this year. These petitions seek the disqualification of the rebel MPs under the Tenth Schedule (anti-defection law) for allegedly voluntarily giving up membership of the TMC and aligning with the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI), a relatively lesser-known political outfit. The rebels had claimed a merger with the NCPI and sought recognition as a separate group in the Lok Sabha.
The TMC maintains that the claimed merger does not meet the constitutional threshold, which requires agreement of not less than two-thirds of the members of the political party as a whole, rather than only the legislative party. Banerjee has argued that the continued pendency undermines the purpose of the anti-defection provisions. He had earlier met the Speaker on August 12 after sending a written reminder on July 27, following the original filing of the petitions in June.
During the hearing, the bench initially appeared inclined to issue notice to the Speaker, who had been named as the first respondent. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta intervened, stating that there was no need to issue notice to the Speaker as a constitutional authority and that he was present in court to represent the office. Mehta informed the court that the Speaker had already issued notices to the 20 MPs on the disqualification petitions filed by the TMC under the Tenth Schedule.
Justice Joymalya Bagchi responded to the submission by observing: “It is not a question of issuing notices; it is a question of concluding the proceedings within a time frame.”
The bench emphasised that the core issue was ensuring timely completion of the proceedings rather than the formal issuance of notice to the Speaker. It noted the need for responses while respecting the Speaker’s constitutional position. The court proceeded to issue notices to the 20 MPs and, in some accounts, the Secretary General of the Lok Sabha, seeking their replies on Banerjee’s plea for an expeditious decision.
The respondents include Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, Sudip Bandyopadhyay, Satabdi Roy, Prasun Banerjee, Rachana Banerjee, Jagadish Chandra Barma Basunia, Partha Bhowmick, Arup Chakraborty, Adhikari Deepak Dev (Deepak Dev Adhikari), 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 Yusuf Pathan
