A Supreme Court Bench led by Justice Arun Mishra on Tuesday asked disqualified Karnataka legislators to communicate their urgency to the court Registrar to list their pleas against their ouster from the House under the anti-defection law for hearing.
Several MLAs, including Pratapgouda Patil and A.H. Vishwanath, have approached the Supreme Court jointly and separately.
Their separate petitions have arraigned the then Speaker, the State of Karnataka, Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah and State Congress president Dinesh Gundurao and the former Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy as respondents.
The petitions urged the court to set aside the former Speaker’s decision to disqualify them from the Karnataka Legislative Assembly.
“The petitioners have a fundamental right under Article 19 to carry on any trade, business and profession. Their right to resign from the post of MLA and carry on any vocation of their choice, including public service, cannot be denied by the Respondent Speaker by a completely illegal and unconstitutional order. The action of the Speaker is thus in violation of the fundamental rights of the Petitioners guaranteed under Articles 19 and 21,” they have argued.
They have also challenged the then Speaker’s conclusion that their resignations were neither voluntary nor genuine. The legislators asked the Supreme Court to call for the records of the proceedings pertaining to their resignation and disqualification.