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Calcutta High Court: Calcutta High Court on Thursday disqualified senior leader Mukul Roy under the anti-defection law.
Calcutta High Court: The Calcutta High Court on Thursday disqualified senior leader Mukul Roy under the anti-defection law. The court said that Roy’s joining Trinamool Congress (TMC) after being elected on BJP ticket in the 2021 assembly elections was a violation of the law. The court canceled the decision of the Assembly Speaker as wrong and considered Roy’s membership terminated with effect from June 11, 2021. Besides, his nomination as Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) was also cancelled. The court’s decision is likely to have political implications for both TMC and BJP. A division bench headed by Justice Debangsu Basak said it had no hesitation in setting aside Assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee’s order dated June 8, 2022, by which he had dismissed the petition filed by Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari. The petition demanded disqualification of Roy.
Joined TMC on 11 June 2021
The court allowed another petition by BJP MLA Ambika Roy, which was heard on the lines of Suvendu Adhikari’s petition on the Supreme Court’s order to disqualify Mukul Roy. The bench, which also included Justice Mohammed Shabbar Rashidi, said that Mukul Roy is disqualified with effect from June 11, 2021, as per the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution of India and the Rules of 1986. The court said that in view of the evidence placed before the Chairman in the adjudication proceedings by Ambika Roy, the only plausible conclusion is that the Chairman’s decision on the issue of disqualification of Mukul Roy is wrong. The bench said that BJP MLA Ambika Roy is able to prove that Mukul Roy had left BJP and joined Trinamool Congress on June 11, 2021. The bench said that such action of Mukul Roy has given rise to disqualification under the Tenth Schedule. The disqualification petition was filed before the Speaker on June 17, 2021, alleging defection by Mukul Roy on June 11, 2021. The Speaker had taken the decision rejecting the disqualification petition on February 11, 2022.
Assembly Speaker’s decision reversed
Another division bench of the High Court, by an order dated April 11, 2022, had set aside the Speaker’s decision and directed to take a fresh decision. The court, in its judgment delivered on Thursday, said the Speaker had misused the law in deciding the disqualification petition and had misunderstood the factual position in arriving at his decision dated June 8, 2022, in which he again held that Roy was a BJP MLA. The high court noted that Mukul Roy was elected as a member of the West Bengal Assembly from Krishnanagar North constituency on a BJP ticket in the 2021 assembly elections, but joined TMC by announcing it in a press conference on June 11, 2021. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also attended the press conference. His joining TMC was also broadcast on the official X handle of the ruling party. The court said that Ambika Roy had presented electronic evidence, transcript of the press conference and other materials before the Speaker. The bench said that the second writ petitioner had established through the arguments available before the Speaker that Mukul Roy was present at the press conference organized by TMC.
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