Salve to take disqualified BJP MLAs fight to the SC

Not letting the Karnataka High Court’s verdict deter them, the 11 disqualified BJP MLAs have approached the Supreme Court against the High Court’s decision and have engaged former Solicitor General, Senior Counsel Harish Salve to represent them..Not letting the Karnataka High Court’s verdict deter them, the 11 disqualified BJP MLAs have approached the Supreme Court against the High Court’s decision and have engaged former Solicitor General, Senior Counsel Harish Salve (pictured) to represent them..The MLAs have been running from pillar to post against their disqualification before the crucial trust vote faced by Karnataka’s Chief Minister B.S. Yedyurappa’s government last month. Just before the trust vote could begin, Speaker of the House, K.G. Bopaiah had dismissed the 11 BJP MLAs and 5 independent MLAs under the 10th Schedule of the Constitution, also known as the Anti-Defection Act..The dissident MLAs then approached the High Court of Karnataka where a specially constituted Bench consisting of Chief Justice J.S. Kehar and Justice N. Kumar heard the pleas of the BJP MLAs against their disqualification. The Bench heard their pleas and gave a split verdict with Justice Kehar upholding their disqualification while Justice Kumar was in favour of setting aside their disqualification..The matter was then heard by a third judge who upheld their disqualification. Justice V.G. Sabhahit who heard the matter held that it was clear that the contents of the letter given to the Governor by the MLAs would lead to the inevitable inference that the intention of the petitioners was to voluntary giving up membership of the BJP..Throughout their battle in the HC, the BJP MLAs were represented by Senior Counsels, K.G. Raghavan of Dua Associates and P.P. Rao. The Chief Minister was represented by a team of legal experts headed by Senior Counsel and former Attorney General (AG) of India, Soli Sorabjee..The action which now moves on to the apex court will see the former AG, Soli Sorabjee pitted against his former Solicitor General (SG), Harish Slave. Salve who worked under Sorabjee while he was appointed as the SG gave his termination due to differences with the then AG and called it “one of the saddest moments in my professional career,” as reported by local daily, Bangalore Mirror..In the past Sorabjee and Salve have gone head to head in a court of law, including a high-profile advertisement case between Hindustan Lever and Colgate Palmolive. What remains to be seen is who triumphs this time around.