IndiaPosted at: Sep 28 2026 9:21PM


SC declines plea to fix deadline for Speaker on rebel TMC MLAs’ disqualification

Parmod Kumar
New Delhi, Sep 28 (UNI) The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a plea seeking directions to the West Bengal Assembly Speaker to decide petitions for disqualification of 10 rebel Trinamool Congress MLAs, observing that there was no reason to doubt that the Speaker would take a decision within a reasonable period and that courts themselves should be mindful of delays in deciding cases before prescribing rigid timelines for other constitutional authorities.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V. Mohana noted that the disqualification petitions were filed on July 8 and referred to earlier Supreme Court rulings holding that such matters should ordinarily be decided within three months.

CJI Kant said the court expected the Speaker to act within the timelines indicated in previous judgments and saw no reason at this stage to assume otherwise.

Justice Bagchi cautioned against courts imposing deadlines on the Speaker when the judiciary itself often failed to adhere to statutory timelines prescribed for deciding cases. He observed, in substance, that the judiciary should first look at its own record before directing another constitutional authority to conclude proceedings within a fixed period.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for petitioner Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay, submitted that nearly three months had elapsed since the disqualification pleas were filed and urged the court to issue notice. He argued that delays in politically sensitive matters could have serious consequences and pointed to what he described as a recurring pattern of disqualification proceedings remaining undecided while parallel disputes moved before the Election Commission.

The bench, however, declined to intervene and recorded that the Speaker was expected to decide the petitions within a reasonable time in accordance with the law laid down by the Supreme Court.

The petition concerned MLAs Ritabrata Banerjee, Firhad Hakim, Arup Roy, Sandipan Saha, Akhruzzaman Ansari, Shiuli Saha, Sabina Yasmin, Biplab Mitra, Javed Khan and Rathin Ghosh, who had contested on TMC tickets but later joined a rival faction.

The plea sought a direction to the Speaker to decide the disqualification petitions within the timeframe indicated in the Supreme Court’s decision in the Kesham Meghachandra Singh case.

The dispute arose from the split within the TMC following the West Bengal Assembly elections. Chattopadhyay had earlier challenged the Speaker’s recognition of Ritabrata Banerjee as Leader of Opposition. That dispute remains pending before the Calcutta High Court following a split verdict.
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