NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday declined to entertain a plea by Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay seeking a direction to the West Bengal Assembly Speaker to expedite the adjudication of disqualification petitions against 10 rebel party MLAs, asking him to approach the Calcutta High Court instead.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi disposed of the petition while requesting the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court to place the matter before a division bench for urgent consideration and expeditious disposal.
"It seems to us that the petitioner has to take recourse to the Calcutta High Court. We accordingly dispose of this petition at this stage with liberty to the petitioner to file an appropriate petition before the high court. We request the Chief Justice of the high court to list the matter before a division bench for urgent consideration and decide the matter expeditiously," the bench ordered.
At the outset, the bench noted that the Speaker was expected to decide the disqualification petitions, filed on July 8, within three months.
Appearing for Chattopadhyay, his counsel submitted that five months had passed since the petitions were filed but the Speaker had not adjudicated them.
Justice Bagchi acknowledged the delay but observed, "We quite understand. You cannot litigate to jump the queue."
The counsel urged the Supreme Court to direct a division bench of the high court to hear the matter to prevent it from getting caught in another round of intra-court appeals. He also pointed out that the Calcutta High Court was on a break until November 11.
"We request an expeditious disposal. There is already an order of this court concerning West Bengal," the counsel submitted.
Justice Bagchi, however, said, "We are aware of the situation. You cannot have all petitions coming here merely because we have passed an order in one."
The disqualification petitions were filed on July 8 against TMC MLAs Ritabrata Banerjee, Firhad Hakim, Arup Roy, Sandipan Saha, Akhruzzaman Ansari, Shiuli Saha, Sabina Yasmin, Biplab Mitra, Javed Khan and Rathin Ghosh over allegations that they defected after contesting the Assembly elections on TMC tickets.
The dispute stems from a split within the TMC following its defeat to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Assembly elections. Chattopadhyay, nominated by the Mamata Banerjee-led faction as its Leader of Opposition, challenged the Speaker's decision to recognise rebel MLA Ritabrata Banerjee for the post and appoint another rebel MLA as Chief Whip.
On June 18, the Calcutta High Court had declined to grant interim relief on Chattopadhyay's challenge to the Speaker's decision to appoint Ritabrata Banerjee as the Leader of Opposition.
Chattopadhyay had approached the high court challenging the rejection of his nomination and the appointment of Banerjee.
The breakaway faction has claimed the support of 58 MLAs in the West Bengal Assembly.
