The Supreme Court today directed the Speaker of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly to decide on the resignation tendered by rebel Congress and JD(S) MLAs.
The Court has allowed the rebel MLAs of the Congress and the JD(S) in Karnataka to appear before the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly at 6 pm today to tender their resignations. The Speaker is required to decide on the resignations today itself.
The order states,
“…we permit the petitioners, ten in number, to appear before the Hon’ble Speaker of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly at 6.00 p.m. today. We request the Hon’ble Speaker to grant an audience to the ten petitioners at the said time. The petitioners, if they so wish and are so inclined, shall intimate the Hon’ble Speaker of the Assembly their decision to resign, in which event, the Hon’ble Speaker shall take a decision forthwith and, in any case, in the course of the remaining part of the day. Such decision of the Hon’ble Speaker as may be taken in terms of the present order, be laid before the Court tomorrow (12.07.2019).”
The order was passed by a Bench of Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Deepak Gupta and Aniruddha Bose.
Yesterday, ten rebel MLAs of the Congress and the JD(S) in Karnataka had approached the Supreme Court challenging the delay by the Speaker of the State Assembly in accepting their resignations.
Appearing for the MLAs, Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi sought an early listing of the case. The Bench headed by CJI Gogoi ultimately agreed to list it for today.
Before the Supreme Court today, Rohatgi claimed that 15 MLAs wanted to resign, but there was no formal acceptance by the Speaker of the Assembly. He submitted,
“The idea is not to defect, but resign so that we can go back to public and contest [elections].”
The Bench ultimately allowed the MLAs to appear before the Speaker this evening to submit their resignations.
It also ordered the Director General of Police, Karnataka to provide adequate security for the rebel MLAs.
Read the order: