Court reinstates 20 disqualified MLAs

DELHI CHIEF MINISTER AND AAP CONVENER KEJRIWAL DESCRIBES RULING AS A ‘VICTORY FOR THE TRUTH’

In a major relief to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the Delhi High Court yesterday reinstated the legislatorship of 20 ruling party MLAs who were disqualified for holding officesof-profit.

Setting aside the Election Commission recommendation disqualifying the MLAs, the court quashed the January 20 presidential order and referred the case back to the poll panel for a fresh hearing.

A division bench of Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Chander Shekhar said the January 19 poll panel recommendation given to the President “is vitiated and bad in law for failure to comply with principles of natural justice”.

It said there was a “violation of natural justice and no oral hearing was given to the AAP MLAs before disqualifying them as legislators”.

The court had reserved its judgement on February 28 after the MLAs and the Election Commission concluded their arguments.

Complaint to president

Delhi Chief Minister and AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal described it as a victory for truth.

“The truth has triumphed. The people whom Delhi had voted as their representatives were wrongly disqualified,” Kejriwal tweeted.

The MLAs were disqualified on charges of holding officesof-profit because they were appointed Parliamentary Secretaries in March 2015.

The Delhi government appointed 21 AAP MLAs as Parliamentary Secretaries to assist cabinet ministers and include more MLAs in governance work.

The post comes with perks similar to that of a minister. The law bars elected representatives from holding offices-of-profit during their tenure.

Lawyer and petitioner in the case Prashant Patel was the first to complain to then President Pranab Mukherjee that the MLAs holding the offices of Parliamentary Secretaries was in violation of the Constitution. Mukherjee referred the complaint to the Election Commission.

In his first reaction after the High Court verdict, Patel said: “The court has said this case will be reopened. I had just raised a constitutional issue. There is no setback for me.”

On January 19, the poll panel recommended the disqualification of 20 AAP MLAs. Of the 21, Jarnail Singh had resigned from the assembly to contest the Punjab elections.

President Ram Nath Kovind, as he is bound by the law, accepted the poll panel recommendation on January 20.

The court has said this case will be reopened. I had just raised a constitutional issue. There is no setback for me.

Prashant Patel | Lawyer and petitioner in the case