New Delhi, Dec 21 (PTI) Ali Anwar, who was disqualifiedfrom the Rajya Sabha recently, today moved the Delhi HighCourt seeking restoration of his membership.
Anwar said in his plea he was not given any chance bythe Rajya Sabha Chairman to be heard before he disqualifiedhim and former JD(U) president Sharad Yadav on December 4.
The high court had refused to grant an interim stay onthe disqualification of Yadav as a Rajya Sabha member onDecember 15 but allowed him to draw his salary, allowances andperks, and retain the bungalow.
The plea by Anwar, seeking an interim stay on thedecision of Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu, wasmentioned before a bench headed by Acting Chief Justice GitaMittal today for urgent hearing.
The bench listed the matter for hearing tomorrow.
Anwar, who had rebelled against the official JD(U)faction led by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar after thelatter joined hands with the BJP, has termed the RS chairman'sorder as "perverse, contrary to the rules of the naturaljustice and is also tainted with malafides".
The plea stated that the filing of an application beforethe Election Commission of India by the Yadav-led faction forrecognition as the real JD(U) cannot lead to the inferencethat he voluntarily gave up his membership of the party.
"The dispute before ECI was in respect of which factionconstitutes the JD(U) and, therefore, any adjudication by theECI on a petition filed by the supporters of the petitionercannot be termed as anti-party activity by any stretch ofimagination," the plea said.
Anwar was elected to the House in year 2012 and his ternwas scheduled to expire early next year.
Naidu, while disqualifying the two, had accepted theJD(U)'s contention that they had "voluntarily given up" theirparty membership by defying its directives and attendingevents of opposition parties.
The JD(U) had sought their disqualification on theground that they had attended a rally of opposition partiesin Patna in violation of its directive. PTI PPS HMPSK.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.