Hyderabad: A two-judge panel of the Telangana High Court took up three writ appeals filed by the Legislative Assembly in the cases of its members Danam Nagender, Kadiam Srihari and Venkat Rao Tellam. The appeals were against the orders of the single judge requiring the Speaker to dispose the disqualification complaints filed by P. Kaushik Reddy and another BRS MLA, stating that the three legislators had suffered a disqualification by virtue of floor crossing.
Koushik Reddy complained that the Speaker was not dealing with the matters expeditiously and strategically defeating the effectiveness of their complaint before the Speaker.
The single judge, after upholding the power of the court to issue directions to the Speaker, also directed the Assembly secretary to fix a schedule of hearings within four weeks. He added that if nothing was heard within the stipulated timem the matter will be opened suo motu.
Advocate General A. Sudershan Reddy said that the sting in the tail needlessly bruised constitutional egos and therefore should be avoided. He said that pending the adjudication of the power of the court to issue the impugned direction the court should suspend the monitoring facet of the impugned order.
The panel of Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice J. Sreenivas Rao, however, pointed out that the sheer afflux of time and the visible logistics of the intervening vacation was good enough to ensure that the supervision was not immediate and functional. The panel accordingly posted the matter for hearing to October 24.
