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Supreme Court declines interim
relief for Amarinder
WSN Network
 NEW DELHI: A
five-Judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court while declining
to grant any interim relief to former Punjab Chief Minister
Amarinder Singh, who had been expelled from the State Assembly in
September 2008 for his alleged involvement in the Amritsar land
scam, posted the case for final hearing on April 28.
Capt. Singh
pleaded for a direction to allow him to attend the Budget session of
the Assembly beginning on February 27 without any voting right.
However, Chief
Justice K. G. Balakrishnan heading the Bench told senior counsel K.
Parasaran, appearing for Capt. Singh : “This court {a three-judge
Bench} had already rejected the interim prayers of staying the
expulsion. We are not inclined to pass any interim order. We will
post it for hearing on April 28.”
The Bench
included Justices R. V. Raveendran, P. Sathasivam, J. M. Panchal and
R. M. Lodha.
Acting on a
petition from Capt. Singh, a three-judge Bench on October 3, 2008,
restrained the Election Commission from filling the vacancy caused
by the expulsion of Capt. Singh by a resolution on September 3,
2008, from the House for breach of privilege on the basis of the
report of a special committee appointed by the Punjab Assembly in
the Amritsar land scam case.
Parasaran
submitted that without an investigation as provided for in the
Cr.P.C. and without a trial by ordinary criminal courts, the special
committee had convicted the petitioner and held him guilty, that too
without an iota of evidence.
“The Legislature
cannot exercise its power for breach of privilege to expel a member
as long as the alleged act does not have any nexus with the House.
If such a practice is permitted then it would open a Pandora’s box
as every time a new party assumes power it would sit over the
executive decisions of the previous regime and expel the former
Chief Minister or minister from the House under the garb of breach
of privilege,” he argued.
When senior
counsel Ashok Desai, appearing for Punjab, opposed an interim relief
saying the issues of expulsion had already been decided by a
Constitution Bench in the Rajaram Pal case, the CJI said: “The
Rajaram Pal case pertained to the conduct of a member in Parliament
during that session and not during the previous session.”
When the Bench
was not inclined to pass any order on the application for interim
relief, counsel Atul Nanda said since the matter was posted for
final hearing on April 28 “we are not pressing the application.”
25 February 2009
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