HC reserves order on MLAs’ expulsion case

The Hyderabad High Court on Wednesday reserved its orders on maintainability of an appeal moved by the TRS MLAs challenging the order of the single judge in setting aside the expulsion of two Congress MLAs from the Telangana Assembly.

A division bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Ramesh Ranganathan and Justice K. Vijaya Lakshmi was concluding the hearing on maintainability of an appeal by TRS MLAs challenging the order of a single judge in setting aside the expulsion of Congress MLAs Komatireddy Venkat Reddy and S.A. Sampath Kumar.

Mr Vaidyanathan, senior counsel of the Supreme Court appearing for the appellants, refuted the argument that only the Speaker or the Secretary to Assembly was competent to file an appeal. He contended that any member of the House could file an appeal as per appeal rules, and appellants were present in the House when the resolution for expulsion was passed and the members have the right to move the court whenever they felt that the rights of the House got affected.

He submitted that it was fact that the MLAs threw their headphones at the Speaker’s dais and it was immaterial that whether it caused any injury or not.

The counsel for the MLAs contended that the right to file an appeal was vested with the Speaker or the state government, and not MLAs unconcerned with the issue.

While reserving the orders, the bench directed both the parties to file their written arguments.

Irregularities in pension distribution will not be tolerated - Jupally Krishna Rao, TS minister