NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Jan 11 stayed the November 5 order of the Janata Dal leader Vishwanath Pratap Singh expelling 25 party parliamentarians but held that the Lok Sabha speaker had the jurisdiction to decide the question of disqualification of members.
A full bench headed by the chief justice M C Jain vacated the January 8 interim order directing the parties including the speaker Rabi Ray to maintain status quo in respect of 37 Janata Dal (S)M Ps who are facing disqualification proceedings against them.
Admitting the petition moved by D P Verma and four other Janata Dal (S) M Ps Justice Jain justice N Goswamy and justice SN Sapra observed that it was not disputed that no show-cause notice was given to any of the 25 members before their expulsion.
In this view of the matter we order that the operation of order of expulsion as communicated to the speaker wide letter of November 5 last year by V P Singh shall remain stayed till decision of writ petition the judges said.
The judges held that prima facie the expulsion of 25 Janata Dal Lok Sabha members by V P Singh was in contravention of the constitution and rules of the Janata Dal and constitution of the Janata Dal in Parliament.
They ruled that the Lok Sabha speaker had jurisdiction to decide the question of disqualification under para six of the tenth schedule and rules framed there under on the petition presented to him.
Article extracted from this publication >> January 18, 1991
