High Court Justice Shamim Akhtar on Wednesday issued notice to the Telangana Legislature Secretary in a writ petition filed by three BJP MLAs challenging their suspension from the ongoing Assembly budget session.
The judge directed the secretary to explain the reasons for the suspension of the three MLAs by Thursday (today). The matter will be heard again today. The petition was filed by BJP MLAs M. Raghunandan Rao, E. Rajendra and T. Raja Singh, who were suspended for the entire duration of the Telangana Assembly budget session on the day of presentation of the budget.
Though the judge issued notice to the secretary, no specific direction was given to furnish a copy of the motion for suspension of the MLAs sought by the petitioners. Senior advocate Desai Prakash Reddy, appearing for the suspended MLAs, said that the secretary should give a copy of the suspension motion.
When the judge wanted to know how the petitioners moved the court without a copy of the motion, Mr. Prakash Reddy said that newspaper clippings explaining the suspension of the MLAs from the Assembly were produced in the court. He also told the court that some regional TV news channels had telecast the proceedings of the budget presentation. Stating that a video footage broadcast by a news channel was also submitted, the senior counsel requested the judge to probe it.
He argued that the video footage would confirm that the three MLAs were suspended without any valid reason. He argued that the MLAs were suspended within 15 to 20 minutes of the session on the day of presentation of the budget. This was a complete violation of the rules, he told the court.
The legislation provides for the reinstatement of a suspended member of the Legislative Assembly if any other member of the same party makes such a motion. But in this case all the three BJP MLAs were suspended. It was mandatory for the Speaker to name an MLA before moving the suspension motion.
But the animal husbandry minister moved a motion for suspension which is a gross violation of the rules, the lawyer said. Advocate General BS Prasad said there is a need to verify the authenticity of the video footage submitted by the petitioners, the courts cannot interfere in the proceedings of the Assembly.