SC: Speaker cannot be ‘indecisive’ on defection pleas

• The Supreme Court ruled that a Speaker’s indecisiveness on disqualification petitions is not “powerless.”
• The ruling was made in response to petitions filed by Bharat Rashtra Samithi leaders seeking timely action against 10 MLAs who defected to the ruling Congress party.
• Justice B.R. Gavai ruled that a Speaker cannot use his indecision to defeat the Tenth Schedule (anti-defection law) of the Constitution.
• The main question is whether constitutional courts can direct Speakers to decide petitions filed under the Tenth Schedule within a specified period.
• The respondent side, represented by senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi and Sravan Kumar, argued that constitutional courts could request a Speaker to decide disqualification petitions expeditiously, but not bind the Speaker to a deadline of four or six weeks.