Jaipur/ New Delhi: After being asked by the Rajasthan High Court to defer action against rebel Congress MLAs, including former Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot, Speaker CP Joshi has said that he will approach the Apex Court to ‘avert a constitutional crisis’.
It may be recalled that the Speaker served disqualification notices to 19 rebel MLAs for ‘anti-party activities’ last week, after the rebels skipped meetings of Congress MLAs.
The rebels moved HC on receiving the notices, arguing that no whip can be in place when the assembly is not in session.
The Rajasthan High Court, while hearing the petition on Tuesday, July 21 said that it will reserve the verdict on the case for Friday, July 24 and also asked the Speaker to defer action till then.
After this decision of the HC, the Speaker said that he will challenge the ‘delay and intervention’ of the High Court in the Supreme Court.
He further opined that as per the SC, only the Speaker can decide on anti-defection and that the Speaker holds full authority to send notice.
He called the petition by the rebels as ‘a dangerous precedent and a possible breakdown of constitutional rules’.
