NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday asked the seven BJP MLAs, suspended indefinitely from the Delhi Legislative Assembly for interrupting the Lieutenant Governor (L-G) VK Saxena’s address, to meet the Speaker, after the court was told that the L-G had accepted their apology.
Justice Subramonium Prasad was dealing with the batch of petitions filed by the BJP MLAs — Mohan Singh Bisht, Ajay Mahawar, OP Sharma, Abhay Verma, Anil Vajpayi, Jitender Mahajan, and Vijender Gupta, challenging their suspension from the assembly.
Before the High Court, the counsel for the MLAs submitted that they wrote a letter of apology to the L-G which was accepted by him. He asserted that as legislators, his clients would have no difficulty in meeting the Speaker. The petitioners counsel told the court they would meet Speaker Ram Niwas Goel during the day.
The counsel also told the court that the issue was “politicised” by the Aam Aadmi Party. “Although the court was told that it wasn’t political, we felt otherwise. We wrote a letter to the L-G. The L-G accepted it. However, there are two developments. Political comments are being made… political messages are floating,” the petitioners’ counsel submitted.
Justice Prasad said the matter can be taken up for further hearing on Thursday, asking the MLAs to meet the Speaker.
“Meet the Speaker. If it is not sorted out… tomorrow I’ll be hearing the matter. It is a small issue for this court. This court is not a political platform. I’ll only be looking at the law. If things can be resolved outside” an attempt should be made, the high court said.
The BJP MLAs had allegedly interrupted L-G VK Saxena on multiple occassions during his address on February 15, in which he highlighted the achievements of the AAP government, while the BJP MLAs attacked the Kejriwal dispensation on a range of issues.
Senior advocate Mehta, appearing for the petitioners had told the court that seven out of the eight BJP MLAs were suspended by the Speaker on February 16 after they had been “marshalled out” of the Assembly the day before, which should have been considered as the punishment for their alleged wrongdoing.
If it is assumed that the conduct of the petitioners was disruptive, the suspension cannot exceed three days, he added. Mahawar, Gupta and Bajpai have contended the entire opposition has been suspended from the House, silencing any voice for accountability. Their suspension was in violation of the Constitution and Rules of Business of the House, the suspended legislators submitted before the high court.
‘Political messages are floating’
During the hearing, advocate Jayant Mehta, appearing for the petitioners said that the issue was being “politicised” by the AAP. “Although the court was told that it (the suspension of BJP MLAs) wasn’t political, we felt otherwise. We wrote a letter to the L-G. The L-G accepted it. However, there are two Developments. Political comments are being made… political messages are floating,” the petitioners’ counsel submitted before the high court.