SC considers Speaker defection timeline

• The Supreme Court has questioned whether constitutional courts can direct Speakers to decide disqualification petitions under the Tenth Schedule (anti-defection law) of the Constitution within a specified period.
• The court is hearing petitions filed by Bharat Rashtra Samiti leaders seeking timely action by the Telangana Assembly Speaker on disqualification proceedings against 10 MLAs who shifted allegiance to the ruling Congress.
• Justice B.R. Gavai, the apex court, argued that Constitutional courts are the “custodians of the Constitution” and cannot direct a Constitutional authority like the Speaker to perform their mandate under the Constitution.
• Senior advocate C.A. Sundaram for the petitioners argued that the response would necessarily be a ‘yes’, citing political partisanship and the vibrant democracy in Maharashtra.
• Senior advocate Dama Seshadri Naidu urged the court to fix four weeks as a reasonable time for Speakers to decide disqualification petitions.