CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Wednesday dismissed the plea filed against the nomination of three MLAs to the Puducherry Legislative Assembly by the Union Home Ministry.
The bench comprising justices Anita Sumanth and Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy observed that the nominees do not attract the specific statutory disqualifications. It observed that the only grievance of the petitioner appears to be that the nominees are members of the BJP.
The petitioner, Gnanasekar, a resident of the union territory, contended that the timing of nomination was inappropriate with the state chief minister recuperating from Covid-19 and was hospitalised in Chennai.
He also said that the credentials of the three persons nominated by the Central government were questionable and that the nominated MLAs should be men of eminence.
During the hearing, Additional Solicitor General, R Shankaranarayan argued that section 3 (2) of the Government of Union Territories Act, provides that the total number of seats in the Puducherry Legislative Assembly to be filled by persons chosen by direct election shall be thirty and as per Section 3(3), the Central Government may nominate not more than three persons.
However, the court in its orders stated that " ...the nominees admittedly, do not attract the specific statutory disqualifications and their alleged unsuitability is in general and non-specific terms. At the risk of repetition, we may state that the only grievance of the petitioner appears to be that the nominees are members of the BJP. This can hardly be a relevant consideration...."
On the petitioner's allegations on undue haste shown in the nomination, the bench said, "In law, we do not find any specification in the statute stipulating the timing of the nomination and the candidates, once nominated, would take their seats in the Legislative Assembly as and when the Assembly is sworn-in."