A Division Bench of the Telangana High Court on Thursday declined to stay a single-judge order warning the the State assembly speaker that he will have to face further court proceedings if he did not decide the disqualification pleas filed against three Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leaders who defected to the Congress.
The Telangana Legislative Assembly has challenged the single-judge's September 9 order by way of three appeals.
A Bench of Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice J Sreenivas Rao issued notice on the appeals and listed the case for hearing on October 24, but declined to issue any stay order without first hearing the matter in detail.
It, however, granted liberty to mention the matter earlier, if required.
"Liberty is reserved to mention the matter in case any precipitative action is taken against the appellant on or before 24.10.2024," the order stated.
The Court also noted that the case raised the question of whether a High Court, in the exercise of its powers of judicial review, can order a speaker to decide on disqualification petitions within a fixed time frame.
The single-judge order had been passed on petitions filed by BRS Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) Kuna Pandu Vivekananda and Padi Kaushik Reddy, as well as Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Alleti Maheshwar Reddy.
These MLAs had challenged the inaction of the speaker in deciding the disqualification petitions against MLAs Venkata Rao Tellam, Kadiyam Srihari and Danam Nagender.
The petitioners had submitted that the disqualification petitions, which were filed in April this year, had not been placed before the speaker for a decision.
On September 9, Justice B Vijaysen Reddy ordered the Secretary to place the disqualification pleas before the speaker, who was directed to decide on the matter in a time-bound manner. The schedule fixed for the speaker's decision was to be communicated to the High Court.
Pertinently, the single-judge added that if no action is taken within four weeks, the matter will be reopened suo motu, and appropriate orders will be issued.
Advocate General AP Sudarshan Reddy appeared for the Telangana legislative assembly on Thursday and urged the Division Bench to stay this last directive.
He argued that the issue had been needlessly made a legislative-judiciary issue by the petitioners, who made scurrilous comments against the legislative assembly's functionaries.
The Division Bench, however, observed that the matter needs detailed consideration. The Court added that it is ready to hear the matter if the lawyers are prepared to make detailed arguments. But since these arguments may take time, the Bench suggested that the matter be taken up as soon as the upcoming court vacation is over.
The Bench also observed that even if the single-judge's deadline expires soon, it is unlikely that a contempt case would be heard during the court vacation.
The Bench added that it could even list the matter on the court's reopening day (after vacation), but made it clear that no stay would be issued unless arguments are made on merits.
Accordingly, the Bench only issued notice in the matter and posted it for hearing later this month, after the Court's upcoming Dusshera vacations.
[Read Order]