Himachal Pradesh HC reserves order on resignation of three independent legislators' case

The hearing was held in the Himachal High Court today on a petition directing the Speaker to accept the resignations of three independent MLAs.

The Himachal Pradesh High Court has reserved orders in the matter of the resignation of three Independent Legislators of the HP Assembly. The Bench of Chief Justice MS Ramachandra Rao has reserved the orders after the arguments were completed on Tuesday.

The hearing was held in the Himachal High Court today on a petition directing the Speaker to accept the resignations of three independent MLAs. The case was heard in the bench of Justice MS Ramachandra Rao at 4 p.m., in which the hearing took place for about two hours.

Senior Lawyer Kapil Sibal joined virtually from Delhi on behalf of the Assembly secretariat of HP Assembly in the matter. The arguments regarding the resignation of independent MLAs have been completed in the High Court.

The Chief Justice has reserved the decision. The Congress legislator from Shimla had filed an intervention application for disqualification of three Independent MLAs and the court has refused to hear separately the application and orders have been reserved. "In the matter of resignation of the three MLAs the senior advocate appeared in the High Court virtually and argued on behalf of the Assembly secretariat," Advocate Sibal said while arguing that for instance if the argument of the advocate of three independent legislators has to be accepted the action will have to be taken by the court and where the jurisdiction is of the speaker.

He said that to date no court in the country has ever said that the court will exercise any powers of the speaker of the assembly. The advocates of legislators have retreated that they have not resigned voluntarily without any pressure and that has already been submitted to the speaker and there is no need for any inquiries in it. Now after the argument matters have been reserved.

"The court has refused to hear separately the intervention application of Harish Janartha as MLA who had filed a disqualification application in the matter and now the order is reserved, we shall wait for the final order to come," said Anup Kumar Rattan, Advocate General HP High Court. Three independent MLAs Hoshiyar Singh from Dehra, Ashish Sharma from Hamirpur and KL Thakur from Nalagarh assembly constituency submitted their resignations to the speaker on March 22, 2024.

They have earlier protested against the speaker demanding to accept their resignations. Later they challenged the speaker not accepting their resignations in the High Court of Himachal Pradesh the matter was listed today and the court has reserved the order in the matter. The Congress MLA from Shimla had filed an intervention application for the disqualification of three Independent Legislators and the court has refused to hear separately the application and orders have been reserved.

The MLA Harish Janartha wanted their disqualification after investigating the matter of their resignations as the Congress alleges suspicious conditions in their resignations. The Congress had also filed a petition to take action against them under Anti defection Law as they have joined the BJP. Today the court has reserved the order on the matter. (ANI)

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