Telangana High Court merges cases of Congress defectors
The bench directed the registry of the High Court to post the case along with the MLCs merger case and adjourned the same for four weeks.
Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court sought the stand of the Telangana state Assembly Speaker (as being the presiding officer of the Tribunal, which dealt the matters regarding the Anti-Defection Law) on the petition filed by Congress leaders Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka and N. Uttam Kumar Reddy alleging that he had not followed the principle of natural justice in the merger of Congress Legislature Party (CLP) of Telangana state into the Telangana Rastra Samiti Legislature Party (TRSLP).
The division bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Raghavendra Singh Chauhan and Justice Shameem Akther was hearing the petition filed by the Congress leaders, challenging the bulletin issued by the secretary of the Telangana Legislative Assembly on June 6 for the merger of the CLP into the TRSLP.
When the petition came up for hearing on Wednesday, the counsel for the petitioners submitted that the MLCs merger case was pending before the court and that the court had issued notices to the Telangana state Legislative Council chairman and others in that case on June 11. He requested to club the MLAs merger case with the MLCs case.
The bench then issued notices to the Speaker and the secretary of the Telangana state Assembly, the Election Commission of India, and the 12 MLAs who will be seated along with TRS MLAs in the Assembly regarding the the bulletin issued by the Assembly secretary at the behest of the Speaker.
The bench directed the registry of the High Court to post the case along with the MLCs merger case and adjourned the same for four weeks.