The Supreme Court on Thursday referred to a Constitution Bench a batch of petitions arising out of certain orders passed by the Gauhati High Court in the ongoing political battle in Arunachal Pradesh.
A Bench comprising Justices J.S. Khehar and C. Nagappan said the matters pertained to constitutional provisions on the rights of the Governor, the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker and hence needed to be decided by a larger Bench.
Immediately after the hearing, a battery of lawyers led by senior advocates Fali Nariman, Kapil Sibal and Harish Salve rushed to Chief of Justice of India T.S. Thakur’s court to press the need for setting up a five-judge Constitution Bench so that the petitions could be heard soon. They said the issue raised in the petitions were politically sensitive and constitutionally of the utmost importance.
Justice Khehar’s court had on Wednesday ordered a freeze on the holding of proceedings of the politically embattled Arunachal Pradesh Assembly till January 18.
The petitions were triggered by alleged removal of Arunachal Pradesh Assembly Speaker Nabam Rebia followed by certain orders passed by the Gauhati High Court and decisions taken by the Governor and the Deputy Speaker.
He was removed as Speaker by 14 rebel Congress MLAs, disqualified by the Speaker, and BJP MLAs on December 16 in an Assembly session presided over by the Deputy Speaker in a community hall in Itanagar.
Published - January 15, 2016 03:10 am IST
