A three-member bench of CJI Surya Kant and justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana said there was no reason to doubt the Speaker. The bench noted that the petitions were filed on July 8 and recalled that the Supreme Court had previously held that the constitutional power vested in a Speaker to decide disqualification petitions under the Tenth Schedule is expected to be exercised within a reasonable time, ordinarily three months.
The plea was filed by TMC MLA Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay, who sought the disqualification of Ritabrata Banerjee, Firhad Hakim, Arup Roy, Sandipan Saha, Akhruzzaman Ansari, Shiuli Saha, Sabina Yasmin, Biplab Mitra, Javed Khan and Rathin Ghosh.
The petition alleged that MLAs had contested the West Bengal assembly elections on TMC tickets but subsequently rebelled and joined a rival faction of the party. It sought their disqualification under the Tenth Schedule or, alternatively, a direction to the Speaker to decide the pending petitions within the timeframe laid down by the Supreme Court.
Justice Bagchi said: “I think we should see the mirror before we give directions. There are so many statutes where the judiciary is required to complete proceedings within a time frame. We are gloriously in breach of those laws and then we direct the Speaker.”
