Rajasthan High Court: By way of Public Interest Litigation, opposition leader of the Legislative Assembly of Rajasthan (‘petitioner’) sought for directions to be issued to the Speaker of the House to take decision on the resignation tendered by 91 Members of the Legislative Assembly in September 2022, within a stipulated time. The division bench of Pankaj Mithal, Chief Justice and Shubha Mehta, J., expressed their expectation in reference to the decision being taken in this regard by the Speaker of the House before the commencement of next Assembly session.
On 06.12.2022, notice was issued to the Speaker of the House in response to which Advocate General (‘AG’) appeared for the respondents seeking time to file a reply. However, the petitioner posed his objection stating that the representation of AG is confined only to the Government of Rajasthan, thus, cannot represent the speaker in this regard, though the Court did not consider the issue at this stage. It was further contended that no Constitutional or Statutory Authority should be permitted to sit over on such matters indefinitely.
Moot point for consideration in the case was to examine the total amount of time the Speaker of the House should take to discharge his statutory obligation.
The Court granted 10 days’ time to file a reply and expressed its expectations in reference to the decision being taken in this regard before the commencement of next Assembly session.
The matter to be taken up on 16-01-2023.
[Rajendra Rathore v. The Honble Speaker, Rajasthan Assemble, 2023 SCC OnLine Raj 16, Order dated 02-01-2023]
Advocates who appeared in this case :
For the Petitioner- Rajendra Rathore, Petitioner in Person;
For the Respondents- Advocate General M.S. Singhvi;
Advocate Sheetanshu Sharma;
Advocate Darsh Pareek;
Advocate Pranav Bhansali.