SC grills Telangana Assembly Speaker

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Telangana Assembly Speaker why he took about 10 months to issue notices on the petitions for the disqualification of BRS MLAs who defected to the Congress.

A bench of Justices B R Gavai and Augustine George Masih also took exception to a purported statement of Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy in the Assembly that there would be no bye-elections. "If this is said on the floor of the House, your Chief Minister is making a mockery of the Tenth Schedule," Justice Gavai observed. The Tenth Schedule of the Constitution relates to provisions for disqualification on the ground of defection.

The bench was hearing arguments on the pleas on the alleged delay by the Telangana Assembly Speaker in deciding the pleas seeking the disqualification.

While one of the pleas challenged the November 2024 order of the Telangana High Court on the disqualification of the three MLAs, another petition was filed over the seven remaining legislators who defected.