Did we commit mistake by letting you go last time, SC faults Telangana CM again

New Delhi/Hyderabad, April 3 (IANS) The Supreme Court once again faulted Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy for his statement made in the state legislative Assembly ruling out by-elections and wondered if it made a mistake by not issuing a contempt notice to him earlier when he had made remarks on the bail granted to BRS leader K. Kavitha.

The Chief Minister had said in Telangana Assembly on March 26 that no by-elections will take place even if MLAs of the opposition Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) switch sides to the ruling Congress party.

For a second consecutive day, the Supreme Court rebuked the Chief Minister for the statement.

The Court had made normal observation on Wednesday that the CM's remarks made a mockery of the 10th schedule of the Constitution.

A bench of Justices B.R. Gavai and A.G. Masih made the observation while hearing petitions filed by BRS leaders, seeking direction to Assembly Speaker to take a decision in a time-bound manner on the petitions for disqualification of 10 BRS MLAs who defected to Congress last year.

Appearing for petitioners, senior Advocate Aryama Sundaram told the bench that Chief Minister made the comments in the House though a BRS MLA said to the CM that Supreme Court proceedings should not be discussed, as the matter is sub-judice.

Sundaram read out the CM's statement made in the Assembly.

"Mr. Speaker, I am telling on your behalf, to everyone present in the Assembly that they need not worry about any bye-elections in future. No bye-elections will come. There will be no by-elections even if the opposition MLAs want a bye-election. It won't happen. Whether they come here, or stay there, there will be no bye-elections".

The senior lawyer told the court that Speaker kept quiet even though the CM claimed to be speaking on his behalf.

Justice Gavai disapproved of the CM's statement and asked Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who was appearing for Telangana Assembly Speaker/Secretary), whether they did a mistake by not taking action against the CM in the earlier instance.

"Having experience on earlier occasion, was the CM not expected to at least exercise some degree of restraint? Did we commit a mistake by letting you go at that time and not taking action for contempt? If this is the manner... separation of powers... We are not bothered about what politicians say, but when the person already having faced similar circumstance... not even a year has gone," the judge observed. He added that while the Supreme Court exercises self-restraint, same is expected of the other two wings of democracy also.

When Singhvi claimed that the transcript was being read selectively and sought time to get the transcript, Justice Gavai pointed out that the petitioners were placing before the Court the full transcript only.

Meanwhile, after hearing arguments on the petitions, the bench reserved its orders.

During the hearing on the petitions on Wednesday, Sundaram brought to the court’s notice the statement made by the Chief Minister in the Assembly on March 26.

Justice Gavai suggested that the senior lawyer Mukul Rohatgi warn the Chief Minister against making such controversial statements in the legislature. Justice Gavai told Rohatgi to warn the Chief Minister against repeating the mistake.

Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy had made certain remarks in August last year about the bail granted to BRS MLC K. Kavitha in Delhi liquor policy case.

The CM had reportedly stated that Kavitha could secure bail within five months as the vote bank of BRS was transferred to the BJP.

“Do we pass our orders in consultation with political parties? We are not bothered about which party politicians belong to… We are not bothered by politicians’ criticism of our orders. We do our duty as per the Constitution and our oath,” Justice Gavai had said while addressing Mukul Rohatgi and Siddharth Luthra, appearing for Revanth Reddy.

After the Supreme Court faulted the Chief Minister for his remarks, he unconditionally expressed his regret.

--IANS

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