HC hears pleas on single judge orders over BRS MLAs defection

Hyderabad:The defected BRS MLAs argued before the Telangana High Court that the Supreme Court or High Courts cannot issue directions to the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, who acts as chairman of the Tribunal. Similarly, they contended that writ courts should not give directions to the Speaker, according to the counsels for defected MLAs Kadiam Srihari and Tellam Venkat Rao.

Senior counsels Sriraghuram and Ravindra Srivastava addressed these arguments in appeals filed against the single judge's orders dated September 9, 2024. The orders directed the secretary of the Legislative Assembly to immediately place the disqualification petitions before the Speaker of the Telangana Legislative Assembly and to fix a hearing schedule — including filing of pleadings, documents, and personal hearings — within four weeks.

Counsels argued that if the Speaker, who is also the tribunal's chairman holding constitutional authority, must follow High Court directions in handling disqualification petitions within a fixed timeframe, then the court would also need to issue orders on how the Speaker should operate in the Legislative Assembly in the future. The court adjourned the hearing to Thursday for further arguments on the appeals.