The Supreme Court on Thursday put on hold a petition to frame guidelines for fixing time limits by which the Speakers of Parliament and the Assemblies should decide defection petitions against MLAs.
A Bench led by Chief Justice N.V. Ramana prima facie said the court cannot legislate.
“It is the prerogative of the House... We cannot fix time limits,” the Bench said.
The Bench however gave lawyer for the petitioner, Ranajit Mukherjee, time to study a judgment of the Supreme Court in the Karnataka MLAs’ case on the point.
The Karnataka judgment of 2019, authored by Justice Ramana (as he was then), had said Speakers who cannot veer away from their constitutional duty to remain neutral do not deserve the chair.
The court had also said political parties indulging in horse-trading and corrupt practices for lure of office and power have denied citizens a stable government.
The court had urged Parliament to “re-consider strengthening certain aspects of the Tenth Schedule [anti-defection law], so that such undemocratic practices are discouraged”.
The observations were part of a 109-page judgment on petitions filed by 17 disqualified MLAs of the Karnataka Assembly ousted by the Speaker for defection under the Tenth Schedule.
