In a landmark judgment, the Supreme Court on Thursday set a three-month deadline for the Telangana Speaker to decide on the disqualification of 10 Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MLAs who defected to the Congress party last year.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) B R Gavai and Justice A G Masih delivered the verdict, directing Speaker G Prasad Kumar to rule on the disqualification petitions filed under the 10th Schedule of the Constitution within three months.
The bench observed that it could not allow a situation akin to “operation successful, but patient died” by letting the petitions remain pending for the entire term of the Assembly, thereby allowing defectors to benefit from the delay.
The Supreme Court noted that the Speaker, when acting as a tribunal under the 10th Schedule, does not enjoy any “constitutional immunity.” It also cautioned that the MLAs should not be allowed to delay the proceedings.
“If the MLAs engage in delaying tactics, an adverse inference can be drawn against them,” the bench said.
The MLAs who defected to the Congress over the past year include Pocharam Srinivas Reddy from Banswada, Kale Yadaiah from Chevella, M Sanjay Kumar from Jagitial, B Krishnamohan Reddy from Gadwal, G Mahipal Reddy from Patancheru, T Prakash Goud from Rajendranagar, Arekapudi Gandhi from Serilingampally, Danam Nagender from Khairatabad, Kadiyam Srihari from Station Ghanpur, and Tellam Venkat Rao from Bhadrachalam.
Allowing the petitions filed by BRS leaders K T Rama Rao, Padi Kaushik Reddy, and K C Vivekanand, the apex court set aside the Telangana High Court division bench's order that had nullified a single judge’s direction to the Speaker to schedule hearings within four weeks.
The court emphasized that the purpose of entrusting adjudication to the Speaker was to avoid delay and ensure swift decisions on disqualification petitions.
It also urged Parliament to reconsider whether the current mechanism—assigning the Speaker or Chairman the role of deciding disqualification cases—is effective in curbing political defections.
Orders in the case were reserved in April this year. Senior Advocate Aryama Sundaram argued for the petitioners, while Senior Advocate Dr Abhishek Manu Singhvi represented the respondents.
The bench also took strong exception to Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy’s alleged statement in the Assembly that no by-elections would be held even if BRS MLAs joined the Congress.
