Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, Jan 28: The Supreme Court lifted 12 BJP MLAs’ one-year suspension from the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly on Friday. The MLAs were suspended from the Assembly for a year, beginning July 5, 2021, for allegedly misbehaving with the presiding officer. To put the suspension in place, the House passed a resolution.
The Supreme Court ruled that the suspension was ‘unconstitutional and arbitrary,’ and that the resolution was invalid and “outside the powers of the Assembly.”
“The resolution suspending 12 BJP MLAs from the Maharashtra Assembly beyond the period of the remainder of the session held in July 2021 is unconstitutional,” the court stated.
After the 12 MLAs filed a petition with the Supreme Court appealing their suspension from the Assembly for alleged rowdy behaviour, the court reserved its decision last week.
“The decision of the House without hearing defies natural justice and is exceedingly unreasonable,” senior attorney Mukul Rohatgi, who had represented some of the petitioners in court, had argued during the hearing. For a year, they can’t police an MLA… This is purely coincidental.”
The suspension should have been intended to discipline, according to senior counsel Mahesh Jethmalani, who represented some of the other petitioners.
“Suspension was a power used by the House of Commons for enforcing discipline,” he said, that the suspension cannot extend beyond a session.
During the arguments, Justices AM Khanwilkar, Dinesh Maheshwari, and CT Ravikumar of the Supreme Court stated that the suspension of the 12 MLAs was prima facie illegal.
