BRS has approached the Supreme Court seeking disqualification of MLAs who defected to Congress from BRS. The petition states that the Speaker has not taken a decision even after 9 months of filing complaints against 10 MLAs. An SLP has been filed against Kadiyam Srihari, Tellam Venkat Rao and Danam Nagender, while a writ petition has been filed against the remaining seven MLAs.
BRS said that even after 6 months of the High Court’s verdict, the Speaker has not taken any action. The petition states that not even a notice has been issued to defected MLAs. It has sought implementation of the earlier verdict in the Kesham Megha Chandra case.
BRS alleged that the Speaker was not taking a decision in accordance with the verdict in the Kesham Megha Chandra case, which required the Speaker to take a decision on the complaints of the parties within 3 months. It has appealed to the Supreme Court to order the Speaker to take a decision within 4 weeks.
BRS MLAs Kadiyam Srihari of Station Ghanpur, Tellam Venkat Rao of Bhadrachalam and Danam Nagendra of Khairatabad have joined the ruling Congress party. BRS MLAs Padi Kaushik Reddy and K.P. Vivekanand have filed petitions seeking their disqualification.
The single bench at Telangana High Court ruled on September 9 that the complaints against the MLAs should be placed before the Speaker, the dates of hearing should be fixed and the information should be given to the registry within 4 weeks. Challenging the verdict given by the single bench, the Assembly Secretary filed an appeal in the Chief Justice bench.
A bench comprising Chief Justice of the High Court Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice J. Srinivas Rao took up the matter. The High Court, which gave its verdict on the case, directed the Speaker to take a decision on the MLAs who changed parties at an appropriate time. The CJ bench issued orders to the Speaker to take a decision keeping in mind the Prevention of Defection Act, the 10th Schedule, and the 5-year term of the Assembly. The High Court set aside the single bench verdict on the MLAs who defected.