Firoz.T.Totanawala The Bangalore Metro Reporter SC QUASHES DISQUALIFICATION SUPREME COURTS SEVERE INDICTMENT, SPEAKERS ACTION MALAFIDE

By Firoz.T.Totanawala 

The Bangalore Metro Reporter 

SC QUASHES DISQUALIFICATION!  

SUPREME COURTS SEVERE INDICTMENT, SPEAKERS ACTION MALAFIDE 

 The Supreme Court has delivered the final Judgement in the ‘MLAs Disqualification’ case. While quashing the orders of Speaker KG Bopaiah to disqualify five Independent and eleven BJP MLAs hours before the confidence vote, the SC had termed the action of the Speaker as Malafide! It is no secret that Bopaiah has acted more as a loyal servant of then Chief Minister Yeddyurappa than as a Speaker. The SC order has come as a major relief to the people who regard the parliamentary democracy as the only way. It is time Bopaiah who has been severely indicted by the SC, resign... 

People were shocked and surprised when the Speaker K G Bopaiah disqualified 16 MLAs - five independent and eleven rebel BJP MLAs in the early hours of October 10th, 2010. Being a Speaker, he should be impartial and in fact, has to resign his party membership once he gets elected as the Speaker! 

 But Bopaiah continued as a loyal party worker and rushed to the rescue of Yedurappa whose leadership was challenged by 20 MLAs of his own party including five independents who submitted a memorandum to the Governor withdrawing support to Yedurappa. The moment 20 MLAs withdrew the support, Yedurappa had lost the majority. In a house of 224, Yedurappa’s strength came down to 105. The Governor directed Yedurappa to prove his majority in the house on 10th October. There was no way Yedurappa could get majority and the only option was to reduce the strength of the house itself. The Speaker Bopaiah’s services were freely used and he was petitioned to disqualify 16 MLAs of which five were independent and the rest were ‘rebel’ BJP MLAs. Eventually, Bopaiah issued notices to the 16 MLAs and asked them to submit their reply within three days. Even though the Anti-defection law provides a clear seven days notice which can be extendable, Bopaiah gave only three days time to the MLAs. 

 Despite the short time, the MLAs submitted their interim reply and sought time to submit the detailed reply. The deadline expired on 9.10.2010 and Bopaiah simply signed the order disqualifying all the 16 MLAs. Curiously, the order was issued around 5 AM on 10th October, the day fixed by the Governor for Yedurappa to prove his majority. 

 The disqualification order was pasted on the gates of the Vidhana Soudha and the police were in full force to prevent the disqualified MLAs entering the Assembly Hall. Amidst the commotion inside the hall, the Speaker asked Yedurappa to move the confidence motion. Within minutes, the Speaker announced Yedurappa having won the confidence vote! With the disqualification of 16 MLAs the strength of the house had come down from 224 to 208 and Bopaiah announced Yedurappa having the support of 105 MLAs! 

 The ‘disqualified’ MLAs challenged their disqualification in the High Court. The Division Bench gave a split verdict and the Chief Justice upheld the order of the Speaker. Later, the matter was referred to another judge who also upheld the disqualification. This was further challenged in the Supreme Court by the disqualified MLAs. 

 The Supreme Court too witnessed heated arguments by the country’s top lawyers in the matter. After a long drawn arguments etc., the Supreme Court struck down the disqualification. The other day, the SC delivered a final judgement over the issue. It snubbed KG Bopaiah and described his ‘disqualification’ orders as a malafide one to allow Yedurappa to hold on to the CM post. In fact, the SC was harsh on Bopaiah’s disqualification of five independent MLAs who cannot be disqualified as they had neither joined nor deserted any political party. The SC quashed the High Court Order upholding the decision of the Speaker. 

 On the face of it, as the disqualification is now quashed, it simply means that the 16 disqualified MLA’s had their voting rights during the Confidence vote on 10th October, 2010. This further means that they were against Yedurappa and therefore it can rightfully be assumed that Yedurappa would have lost the majority and should have been ousted on 10th October, 2010 itself. However, he continued as CM and that is a mockery of democracy. 

 What one can say about Bopaiah who mortgaged the prestige, dignity and independence of the Speaker’s post to save Yedurappa? The SC had termed Bopaiah’s action as malafide. And it is time that Bopaiah whose actions are criticised in strong words by the SC, resign immediately at least to protect the dignity of the Speaker’s chair. 

That is all.