Supreme Court declines to set timeline for Speaker in TMC rebel MPs case

The Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to impose a specific timeline on Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla for concluding the disqualification proceedings pending against 20 rebel Trinamool Congress MPs who have aligned themselves with the Nationalist Citizens Party of India.

A three-judge Bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant was hearing a plea by TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee, who argued that the Speaker was delaying a decision under the anti-defection law and sought a time-bound ruling on the rebels' disqualification.

When Justice Joymalya Bagchi, a member of the Bench, asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to submit a schedule for the proceedings, the Solicitor General urged the court not to fix the Speaker's calendar. He maintained that monitoring by the Supreme Court was unnecessary.

Senior advocates Neeraj Kishan Kaul and Maninder Singh, representing the rebel MPs, contended that the three-month limit indicated in the Keshab Meghachandra Singh versus Speaker, Manipur Legislative Assembly case would apply only where there was complete inaction by the Speaker.

The Bench asked how soon replies to the notices issued in the disqualification petitions would be filed. Senior advocate Kalyan Banerjee, appearing for Abhishek Banerjee, said the rebel MPs had already been given six weeks and were now seeking four more.

The court recorded the MPs' intention to file their replies within four weeks and posted the case after that period. Justice Bagchi described the Speaker's role as "amphibious", spanning duties to the House and as a Tribunal under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution.

Notice had earlier been issued to the Secretary General and to MPs Kakori Ghosh Dastidar, Sudip Bandyopadhyay, Satabdi Roy, Prasun Banerjee, Rachana Banerjee, Jagadish Chandra Barma Basunia, Partha Bhowmick, Arup Chakraborty, Adhikari Deepak Dev, Sayani Ghosh, Bapi Haldar, Md Abu Taher Khan, Kalipada Saren Kherwal, Asit Kumar Mal, June Maliah, Mitali Bag, Khalilur Rahaman, Mala Roy, Sharmila Sarkar and Yusuf Pathan.

The dispute stems from a rebellion in the TMC parliamentary party after 20 of its Lok Sabha MPs announced they had joined or merged with the NCPI, a Tripura-based outfit, and sought separate recognition in the House. The rebels have since been treated as an NCPI group in Parliament and have taken part in NDA parliamentary activities.

The TMC has argued that the MPs were elected on its symbol and that aligning with another political formation amounts to voluntarily giving up party membership, attracting disqualification under the anti-defection law. The rebel camp has maintained that its move constituted a valid merger.