The Madras High Court on Monday refused to grant any interim relief to the 79 suspended MLAs of DMK and adjourned a plea, moved by the Opposition party, to September 1 for detailed hearing.
First Bench of Chief Justice S.K. Kaul and Justice R. Mahadevan passed the direction on the plea moved by the party’s treasurer and Opposition leader M.K. Stalin seeking to quash the resolution passed in the Assembly suspending the MLAs for a week and to declare as illegal and unconstitutional Rule 121 of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly Rule, which empowers the Speaker to impose “the grave punishment of suspension” without providing any opportunity of hearing to the member/members.
As an interim relief, Mr. Stalin prayed the court to stay the operation of the resolution dated August 17, 2016, issued by the Assembly and all proceedings and action taken pursuant thereto. He also sought the court to direct the Speaker to permit the suspended MLAs to attend and participate in the present Assembly session.
Mr. Stalin's petition said, “The action of suspending the entire Opposition in a legislative body is not merely without precedent in the history of parliamentary democracy but is also an anathema to the same. Such an action is opposed to the fundamental notions of parliamentary and constitutional convention and is plainly unconstitutional.”
He alleged that the Speaker's action's constituted a “naked affront” to the principles of democracy, which is a part of the basic structure of the Constitution. “As a result of the calculated actions, the representatives of about 35 per cent of the people of Tamil Nadu have been left unable to participate in legislative proceedings.”
The resolution to suspend the MLAs was purportedly passed under Rule 121 of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly Rules. “Rule 121 is ex-facie unconstitutional as it provides for the grave punishment of suspension without any opportunity of hearing to the member in question. It is not saved by the doctrine of necessity… Hence, the same is clearly beyond the scope of Article 194 [Powers and Privileges of the House of Legislatures] of the Constitution of India,” Mr. Stalin said.
