Courts cannot intervene in disqualification proceedings, Raj Speaker tells SC

Rajasthan Assembly Speaker C P Joshi on Thursday told the Supreme Court that the state high court has no jurisdiction to restrain him from conducting disqualification proceedings till July 24 against 19 dissident Congress MLAs, including sacked deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot.

A bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra commenced hearing on Josh''s plea that referred to a famous top court verdict rendered in the 1992 Kihoto Hollohan case, in which it was held that courts can't intervene in disqualification proceedings undertaken by the Speaker under Tenth Schedule to the Constitution.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Joshi, said courts could only intervene when the Speaker takes a decision to suspend or disqualify a member of the House.

Sibal's response came when the bench asked him whether courts could not intervene at all if the Speaker suspended or disqualified a lawmaker.

The hearing on the plea is underway.

Joshi has challenged the Rajasthan High Court's July 21 order, which said the verdict on the petition filed by the 19 MLAs, challenging the disqualification notices, will be pronounced on July 24 and asked him to defer the disqualification proceedings till then.