TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2006 (12) TMI 514
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....ya Baghel, Adv., Ms. Manik Karanjawala, Adv. For the Respondent In WP 287/2004 292/2004 : Mr. R.N. Trivedi, Sr.Adv., Mr. Mahendra Anand, Sr. Adv., Mr. Aditya Kumar Choudhary, Adv. Mr. Manish Mohan, Adv., Ms. Shweta Garg, Adv., Mr. Surya Kant, Adv. For the State of Haryana : Mr. Ajay Siwach, AAG., Mr. Sandeep Sharma, Adv., Mr. T.V. George, Adv. In WP 290-291/2004 & 293-294/2004 : Mr. Shanti Bhushan, Sr. Adv. , Mr. Rakesh K. Khanna, Sr. Adv., Mr. Aditya Kumar Choudhary, Adv., Mr. Sanjai Pathak, Adv., Mr. Manish Mohan, Adv., Mr. Ugra Shankar Prasad, Adv. For Respondent No. 5: Mr. Jaspal Singh, Sr. Adv., Mr. Aditya Kumar Choudhary, Adv., Mr. Arun Kumar Beriwal, Adv. JUDGMENT Y. K. SABHARWAL, CJI. 1. These petitions challenge the legality of orders passed by the Speaker of Haryana Legislative Assembly (for short, 'the Assembly') disqualifying petitioners from being members of the Assembly. The impugned orders have been passed in exercise of the powers conferred on the Speaker under the Tenth Schedule to the Constitution of India. Four petitioners (Writ Petition Nos.290, 291, 293-294 of 2004) were independent members of the Assembly. Petitioner Jagjit Singh (....
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....orkers/leaders of the NCP at Haryana decided to cause a split by passing a unanimous Resolution. The split was recognized by central leadership of NCP. On split, a new political party named 'Democratic Dal of Haryana' was formed. The petitioner on 29th December, 2003 filed application before the Speaker placing the factum of split and formation of the new party on record. On 31st December, 2003, respondent No.3 filed a complaint before the Speaker under paragraphs 2 and 6 of the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution of India seeking disqualification of the petitioner on the ground that he has voluntarily defected from NCP and formed/joined Democratic Dal of Haryana. On 17th March, 2004, Speaker issued notice to petitioner calling for his comments to the allegations made against him. However, notice could not be served on the petitioner. The case of petitioner is that on 30th April, 2004 merger of Democratic Dal of Haryana took place with Indian National Congress in accordance with law and, therefore, the case is covered by Paragraph 4 of the Tenth Schedule. In this view, no proceedings for disqualification could be initiated or continued. A further notice dated 23rd April, 200....
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.... National Congress in the State of Haryana. On 15th June, 2004, a complaint was filed against him by respondent No.3 under paragraphs 2 and 6 of the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution on the ground that petitioner had joined the Indian National Congress. 8. Complaints were also filed against petitioners in Writ Petition Nos.290, 293-294 seeking their disqualification on similar grounds. The Speaker, respondent No.2, issued notice to the petitioner on 16th June, 2004 for submitting comments on 24th June, 2004. The application dated 23rd June, 2004 filed by respondent No.3 before Speaker to place on record additional evidence was taken up by the Speaker on 24th June, 2004. The copies of application dated 23rd June, 2004 for placing on record additional evidence, affidavit of Ashwani Kumar along with transcripts of interview on Zee TV and Haryana News and the alleged page of Congress Legislature Party Register dated 16th June, 2004 were handed over by the Speaker to the counsel for the petitioner at 3.30 p.m. on 24th June, 2004 with a direction to file reply thereto by 10 a.m. on the next date i.e. 25th June, 2004. On 25th June, 2004, petitioner filed a short reply to the main peti....
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....e been violated, the impugned orders are nullity. 9. Four petitioners who were elected as members of the Assembly as independent candidates, have been disqualified by the impugned orders under paragraph 2(2) read with paragraph 6 of the Tenth Schedule. Paragraph 2(2) provides that an elected member of a House who has been elected as such otherwise than as a candidate set up by any political party shall be disqualified for being a member of the House if he joins any political party after such election. According to the impugned orders, the four independent members of the Assembly having joined Indian National Congress have incurred this disqualification. 10. The Speaker, while exercising power to disqualify members, acts as a Tribunal and though validity of the orders, thus, passed can be questioned in the writ jurisdiction of this Court or High Courts, the scope of judicial review is limited as laid down by the Constitution Bench in Kihoto Hollohan v. Zachillhu & Ors. [1992 supp.(2) SCC 651]. The orders can be challenged on the ground of ultra vires or malafides or having been made in colourable exercise of power based on extraneous and irrelevant considerations. The order wo....
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....ffect: "As everybody who has anything to do with the law well knows, the path of the law is strewn with examples of open and shut cases which, somehow, were not; of unanswerable charges which, in the event, were completely answered; of inexplicable conduct which was fully explained; of fixed and unalterable determinations that, by discussion, suffered a change. Nor are those with any knowledge of human nature who pause to think for a moment likely to underestimate the feelings of resentment of those who find that a decision against them has been made without their being afforded any opportunity to influence the course of events". 15. The argument is that if opportunity to lead evidence and cross-examination had been granted to the petitioners, they would have shown that they had not joined Indian National Congress despite what had appeared in print and electronic media. 16. Reliance is also placed on the observations of Justice Chinnappa Reddy in National Textile Workers' Union & Ors. v. P.R. Ramakrishnan & Ors. [(1983) 1 SCC 228] in His Lordship's concurring opinion while dealing with a litigation between two rival groups of shareholders of a Company to take....
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....n away in proceedings under that statute without affording a hearing to those desiring to be heard. If the statute says only so and so will be heard and no other, of course, no other will be heard. If the statute does not say who may be heard, but prescribes the procedure for the hearing, that procedure must be followed by every one who wants to be heard and what applies to one will apply to the other. If creditors and contributories desire to be heard and are heard, so shall workers. After hearing the workers, the court may say that, on the facts and circumstances of the case, it is not necessary to hear them further; but they cannot be turned away at the very threshold. It may be that it is not for them to support or oppose the winding- up petition for any of the traditional reasons. But they may make suggestions which may avert winding-up, save the company and save their own lives. They may have suggestions to make for restructuring the company or for the transfer of the undertaking as a running business. The workers themselves may offer to run the industry forming themselves into a society. They may have a myriad suggestions to make, which they can do if they are allowed to be ....
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....sider the case which specifically dealt with disqualification under the Tenth Schedule and similar argument of violation of principles of natural justice. 21. In Ravi S. Naik v. Union of India and Ors. [1994 Supp. (2) SCC 641], challenging the disqualification order passed by the Speaker of the Goa Assembly, it was urged that reasonable opportunity was denied in as much as sufficient time was not granted to respond. Further, it was urged that the Speaker had referred to certain extraneous materials and circumstances, namely, the copies of the newspapers that were produced at the time of hearing and the talks which the Speaker had with the Governor and had denied to the petitioner an opportunity to adduce evidence. Noticing the principles of natural justice, the decision of this Court in Kihoto Hollohan case, Mrs.Maneka Gandhi v. Union of India & Anr. [(1978) 1 SCC 248], Union of India and Anr. v. Tulsiram Patel [(1985) 3 SCC 398] and reiterating that an order of an authority exercising judicial or quasi judicial functions passed in violation of the principles of natural justice is procedurally ultra vires and, therefore, suffers from a jurisdictional error and that is the reason....
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....esulted in violation of rules of natural justice on having simply denied that they have not joined the Indian National Congress? Had they availed of the opportunity and pointed out how the recording was not correct and it was doctored and then not permitted to lead evidence, the argument that there has been violation of principles of natural justice may have carried considerable weight. The petitioners cannot be permitted to sit on the fence, take vague pleas, make general denials in the proceedings before the Tribunal of the nature under consideration. Under these circumstances, mere denial of opportunity to cross-examine or adduce evidence may not automatically lead to violation of principles of natural justice. The principles of natural justice cannot be placed in such a rigid mould. The court, on facts of a case despite denial of opportunity to lead evidence, may come to the conclusion that reasonable opportunity has been afforded to the person aggrieved. The principles of natural justice are flexible and have to be examined in each case. 25. The question to be asked in the ultimate analysis would be whether the person aggrieved was given a fair deal by the authority or not?....
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....s filed with the application dated 23rd June, 2004, the proceedings that took place before the Speaker and what has been held in the impugned orders by the Speaker. It was alleged i9n the complaints which were served on petitioners on 16th June, 2004 that they had joined the political and legislature parties of Indian National Congress as members thereof. The said fact had been widely reported in all daily newspapers in English as well as vernacular language dated 15th June, 2004. True copies of the news items as published in newspapers reporting their having joined the Indian National Congress were filed. According to those reports, the leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly had stated that these members were taken to Congress President and had joined the said party. Copies of the news items as appearing in '"The Tribune", "The Times of India", "Hindustan Times", "Punjab Kesari" and "Dainik Jagran" were filed with the complaints. It was further alleged that besides the news reports appearing in the print media, actions of these members joining the political and legislature parties of Indian National Congress were widely reported by the electronic media including Zee Ne....
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...., it was also denied that Annexure P1 is the photocopy of the original page of the proceedings register of the said legislature party in respect of proceeding held on 16th June, 2004. 29. It has to be noted that on 24th June, 2004 counsel representing the petitioners were asked by the Speaker to watch the interviews conducted in New Delhi on 14th June, 2004 by Zee News and Haryana News (Punjab Today Television Channel) which was available on the compact disc as part of the additional evidence with application dated 23rd June, 2004 filed by the complainant. The counsel, however, did not agree to watch the recording which was shown on these two channels. The copies of the application dated 23rd June, 2004 were handed over to the counsel and they were asked to file the reply by 10 a.m. on 25th June, 2004. In the replies, petitioners merely denied the contents of the application without stating how material by way of additional evidence that had been placed on record was not genuine. 30. It is evident from the above facts that the petitioners declined to watch the recording, failed to show how and what part of it, if any, was not genuine but merely made general denials and sought....
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....so give out that the coverage of their interviews on 14.6.2004 was also telecast by both the Television Channels. In fact, the certificate given by the Haryana News (Punjab Today Television Channel) authenticates the place of the interview as the residence of Mr. Ahmed Patel at 23, Mother Teresa Crescent in Delhi which interview as per the certificate was conducted by the correspondent of the said Television Channel, namely Shri Amit Mishra on 14.6.2004. the same certificate P-12 also authenticates the coverage of the CLP meeting held in Chandigarh on 16.6.2004 conducted by their correspondent Mr. Rakesh Gupta. Therefore, the electronic evidence which as per the petitioner is supplementary to the evidence of Print Media already on the record deserves to be taken on the record as it is admissible as per law." 33. The Speaker after holding that the petitioners have made vague allegations, without producing in support any material and evidence, has further concluded as under : "As there is no controversy regarding the status of the respondent from February 2000 and before 14.6.2004, the dispute primarily arises regarding his true status as on 14.6.2004 onwards. In order to....
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....e six independent Members of the Haryana Vidhan Sabha are: 1. Shri Bhim Sain Mehta, MLA 2. Shri Jai Parkash Gupta, MLA 3. Shri Mula Ram, MLA 4. Shri Rajinder Singh Bisla, MLA 5. Shri Dariyab Singh, MLA 6. Shri Dev Raj Deewan, MLA (iii) The above named six Members of Haryana Vidhan Sabha were interviewed by Zee News Television Channel and Haryana News (Punjab Today Television Channel) on 14.6.2004 at 23, Mother Teresa Crescent, New Delhi which interview was witnessed by Shri Ashwani Kumar as corroborated by him. (iv) All the above named six members are seen in the company of Senior Congress Party Functionaries and Leaders during the course of the above said interviews by the Television Channels, wherein they admitted and acknowledged the fact that they had joined the Congress Party. (v) Out of the above named six Members, three members, namely, Shri Dev Raj Deewan, Shri Rajinder Singh Bisla and Shri Jai Parkash Gupta are seen participating in the meeting of the CLP held on 16.6.2004 in the premises of the Haryana Vidha Sabha." 34. In the impugned orders, respondent No. 2 has further noted that while ....
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....These proceedings before the Speaker are not comparable with the arbitration proceedings before arbitrators. 37. Undoubtedly, the proceedings before the Speaker which is also a tribunal albeit of a different nature have to be conducted in a fair manner and by complying with the principles of natural justice. However, the principles of natural justice cannot be placed in a strait-jacket. These are flexible rules. Their applicability is determined on the facts of each case. Here, we are concerned with a case where the petitioners had declined to avail of the opportunity to watch the recording on the compact disc. They had taken vague pleas in their replies. Even in respect of signatures on CLP register their reply was utterly vague. It was not their case that the said proceedings had been forged. The Speaker, in law, was the only authority to decide whether the petitioners incurred or not, disqualification under the Tenth Schedule to the Constitution in his capacity as Speaker. He had obviously opportunity to see the petitioners and hear them and that is what has been stated by the Speaker in his order. We are of the view that the Speaker has not committed any illegality by statin....
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....again elected as MLA by the people. I am basically (Khaandani) Congressman. My whole of the family has given blood for the sake of Congress Party. We are Congressman since the time of Shri Sanjay Gandhi. We stood with Shri Rajiv Gandhi Ji. The whole country has been impressed by Smt. Sonia Gandhi with her sacrifice. Keeping in view all these factors, we requested Hooda Ji in this context. Now when such sacrificing leaders have come in India, we also want to serve Congress Party. Smt. Sonia Ji has given her blessings. We will serve the Congress Party physically, mentally and financially from very today. HARYANA NEWS CORRESPONDENT Have you imposed any condition for that? SHRI DEV RAJ DIWAN Condition for what? We have come only to serve the Congress Party being an MLA, we have already been serving the people of Constituency. Now we will serve Congress Party and will also serve people of Constituency while remaining in Congress. Thank you. PETITIONER- RAJINDER SINGH BISLA: ZEE NEWS CORRESPONDENT Why have you decided to join Congress Party at the time when assembly general elections are drawing near? SHRI RAJINDER S....
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....ced the chair of Prime Minister, which she could have and made Sardar Manmohan Singh as Prime Minister. By coming back to our home, we have again joined Congress Party under the command of Smt. Sonia ji, Hooda Sahib and Ahmed Sahib. Today we have become associate members of Congress Party. HARYANA NEWS CORRESPONDENT Whether you have joined Congress Party under pressure or with your own willing? SHRI JAI PARKASH GUPTA We are veteran Congressmen. Our family is Congressman so far and have been members of Congress Party for the last three decades. After 1996, last time in 2000-Assembly Elections, there has been some problem with me in getting party ticket. Public brought forth me as an independent candidate and I won elections as an independent candidate. Smt. Sonia Gandhi has made a great sacrifice as she did not accept the chair of Prime Minister and put an example in the world. She has made Sardar manmohan Singh as Prime Minister. We have been impressed by this step of Smt. Sonia Gandhi and, therefore, we have come back to our home. We will be in the Congress Party as follower of Smt. Sonia Gandhi and abide by the dictates of Smt. Sonia Gandhi as ....
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...., then the question of its proof would have arisen. Instead of so doing, the petitioners only took shelter under the general vague denial pleading that they wish to adduce evidence. It is also to be remembered as observed by the Supreme Court in the aforesaid case, that admission is the best evidence that can be relied upon, and though not conclusive, is decisive of the matter, unless successfully withdrawn or proved erroneous. The petitioners have failed to satisfy the later part. Undoubtedly, the Speaker has to comply with the principles of natural justice and cannot pass an order on the basis of pre-determination but in the present case, it cannot be held that the impugned order suffers from any such infirmity. We are unable to accept the contention that the petitioners were not given a fair deal by the Speaker and principles of natural justice have been violated. 41. It was also contended that paragraph 2(2) of the Tenth Schedule deserves to be strictly construed. The submission is that the word 'join' in Paragraph 2(2) deserves a strict interpretation in view of serious consequences of disqualification flowing therefrom on an order that may be made by the Speaker. P....
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....stitution of India. 45. Now, we revert to the disqualification of the petitioners in Writ Petition Nos. 287 and 292 of 2004. It is not disputed that these petitioners have joined Indian National Congress. 46. As already noted, these petitioners were lone members representing their respective parties in the Legislative Assembly. The Speaker in their cases has held that the protection of paragraph 3 of the Tenth Schedule is not available to a single member party. According to the petitioners, they are covered by the protected umbrella of paragraph 3 of the Tenth Schedule. The petitioners have been disqualified by the impugned order in exercise of power under paragraph 2(1) and paragraph 6. Paragraph 2(1) is subject to paragraphs 3, 4 and 5. 47. In the present case, the question is of interpretation of paragraph 2(1) and paragraph 3 of the Tenth Schedule which read as under: "2. Disqualification on ground of defection- (1) Subject to the provisions of paragraphs 3, 4 and 5, a member of a House belonging to any political party shall be disqualified for being a member of the House (a) if he has voluntarily given up his membership of such political party; or ....
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....e paragraph cannot be interpreted in a manner which will deprive a group of 100% of the protection. The submission is that once the sole member of a party is recognized by Speaker as constituting the legislature party in the Vidhan Sabha, the benefit of paragraph 3 has to be given to the said sole member as it would be a case of more than one-third members of the legislature party representing the group. 49. In the first paragraph of the Tenth Schedule, expressions 'legislature party' and 'original political party' have been defined which read as under : "1. Interpretation. In this Schedule, unless the context otherwise requires, (a) ........ (b) 'legislature party', in relation to a member of a House belonging to any political party in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 2 or paragraph 3 or, as the case may be, paragraph 4, means the group consisting of all the members of that House for the time being belonging to that political party in accordance with the said provisions; (c) 'original political party', in relation to a member of a House, means the political party to which he belongs for the purposes ....
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....ly defecting from 'NCP' and founding/joining the Democratic Dal of Haryana. On 30th April, 2004 Democratic Dal of Haryana is said to have merged with the Indian National Congress in accordance with paragraph 4 of the Tenth Schedule. The petitioner, for a long time, could not be served with the notices issued by the Speaker on the complaint of respondent No.3. The impugned order notices steps that had to be taken for effecting substituted service on the petitioner. Ultimately, he was served on 5th June, 2004. Thereafter, the petitioner has been repeatedly seeking adjournments in proceedings before the Speaker. He, however, filed an interim reply on 16th June, 2004 and sought four weeks' time on the ground that due to summer vacation of the Court, senior advocates were not available. Petitioner has further alleged that he received a telephone call from the Speaker on 24th June, 2004 when the Speaker told him that if he abstains from voting in Rajya Sabha, the disqualification can be avoided. The impugned order disqualifying the petitioner on account of defection was passed on 25th June, 2004 under paragraph 2(1)(a) of the Tenth Schedule. 54. The facts in the case of Ka....
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....p representing a faction which has arisen as a result of a split in his original party; and (ii) Such group must consist of not less than one-third of the members of such legislature party." 58. Learned counsel for the petitioner, however, relies upon paragraph 37 in Ravi S. Naik's case in support of the submission that only a claim as to split has to be made and it is not necessary to prove the split. The said observations are : "In the present case the first requirement was satisfied because Naik has made such a claim. The only question is whether the second requirement was fulfilled." 59. The observations relied upon are required to be appreciated in the light of what is stated in the next paragraph, i.e., paragraph 38, namely : "As to whether there was a split or not has to be determined by the Speaker on the basis of the material placed before him." 60. Apart from the above, the acceptance of the contention that only claim is to be made to satisfy the requirements of paragraph 3 can lead to absurd consequences besides the elementary principle that whoever makes a claim has to establish it. It will also mean that when a claim as to split ....
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....e petitioner to the said assertion is that he is only claiming that a split was caused by the party workers in the original political party on 20th December, 2003 and that information had been sent to the Speaker as well as to the Election Commission of India. The Speaker, on the basis of material on record, has come to the conclusion that the petitioner was wanting to treat his own defection allegedly supported, according to the petitioner, by some party workers at local level as a split in his original political party. Such a plea was not accepted by the Speaker. We think the Speaker is right. Such a split, if held to be valid for the purposes of paragraph 3, would defeat the very purpose of the law. The requirement is not the split of the local or State wing of original political party but is of original political party as defined in paragraph 1(c) of the Tenth Schedule read with the explanation in paragraph 2(1) to the effect that 'an elected member of a House shall be deemed to belong to the political party, if any, by which he was set up as a candidate for election as such member'. 62. In support of the contention that for the purposes of paragraph 3 of the Tenth S....
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....ate Legislative Assembly. Thus, according to us if there is a split of a political party at the State level and one-third members of the Legislature party of that political party at the State level consists of the group representing that faction which splits away from the original political party then the split comes into existence and is effective." 63. The Full Bench, in the above case, was considering the legality of the Order of the Deputy Speaker of Punjab Legislative Assembly whereby he declined to declare Respondent Nos.3 and 4 as disqualified under paragraph 2 of Tenth Schedule. The said respondents were candidates put up by Bhartiya Janata Party in assembly elections held in February 1992 in which they were elected. According to the petitioner, these members joined Congress (I) party. The petitioner before the High Court was a leader of the original political party, i.e., Bhartiya Janata Party. Legislature Party made a complaint to Speaker to disqualify these members and stated that there was no split in the party as claimed by Respondents 3 and 4. The Deputy Speaker, however, held that there was split in the party and the original party had six seats and respondents 3 ....
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....se for the time being belonging to that political party, and so understood, the appellants who were thrown out or expelled from the party, did not belong to that political party nor will they be bound by any whip given by that party, and so, they are unattached members who did not belong to any political party, and in such a situation the deeming provision in sub-paragraph (a) of the explanation to paragraph 2(1) will not apply. We are afraid it is nothing but begging the question. Paragraph 1(b) cannot be read in isolation. It should be read along with paragraphs 2, 3 and 4. Paragraph 1(b) in referring to the Legislature Party in relation to a member of a House belonging to any political party, refers to the provisions of paragraphs 2, 3 and 4, as the case may be, to mean the group consisting of all members of that House for the time being belonging to that political party in accordance with the said provisions, namely, paragraphs 2, 3 and 4, as the case may be. Paragraph 2(1) read with the explanation clearly points out that an elected member shall continue to belong to that political party by which he was set up as a candidate for election as such member. This is so notwithstand....
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....translated, stated that "the addressee is not contactable and no one else is ready to take the registered letter and, therefore, the letter is being returned." The report itself mentions that the official of the postal department visited the given address of the respondent on 25.3.2004, 26.3.2004, 27.3.2004 and 28.3.2004. In view of this it was again ordered that the respondent be served with the notice of the petition by Registered-AD post. Accordingly Registered-AD letter dated 23.4.2004 was sent to the respondent to submit his comments to the petition before 11.5.2004. This letter was also received back undelivered with the accompanying report dated 5.5.2004 of the serving agency, which in terms, was to the same effect as the earlier report dated 30.3.2004. The report further reveals that the official of the postal department went to the given address of the respondent on 27.4.2004, 28.4.2004, 29.4.2004, 30.4.2004 and 1.5.2004. so far as the substituted service of the Respondent through SDO(C) Palwal was concerned, the report of the same was still awaited when the case was taken up on 11.5.2004. In these circumstances, it was ordered on 15.5.2004 to make anothe....
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.... to inspect the record and for obtaining the certified copies of the documents mentioned in Para 3 of the application. In the interest of justice, a detailed order was passed on 11.6.2004 allowing the application of the respondent and granting permission to him to inspect the record and also for supply of certified copies of the documents which were demanded by the respondent. An intimation of the order passed by this Authority was conveyed to the respondent by the Secretary vide letter dated 11.6.2004 which was received by the respondent on the same day at 5.30 pm as the record reveals. By this letter it was also conveyed to the respondent that permission to inspect the record at 10 AM on 14.6.2004 had also been granted. The certified/Photostat copies as asked for by the respondent had also been enclosed with the said letter. The respondent was asked to submit his comments latest by 2 pm on 14.6.2004 and also to appear personally with the assistance of his Advocate. The record reveals that the inspection had indeed been done by the respondent and he was assisted by his Advocate in the said inspection of the record. Instead of filing his reply on 14.6.2004, another applica....
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....not add words to a statute or read words into it which are not there, especially when the literal reading produces an intelligible result' {See P.K. Unni v. Nirmala Industries & Ors. [(1990) 2 SCC 378]}. The contention is that when paragraph 3 protects when there is defection of a group consisting of not less than one-third of the members of a legislature party, the intention of law can never be to deprive such a benefit where group is 100%. We are unable to accept this contention for more than one reason. Firstly, there is no contradiction or ambiguity or defect or omission in paragraph 3; secondly, there is no manifest contradictions insofar as the apparent object of the defection law is concerned in paragraph 3 depriving the benefit of single member legislature party; thirdly the legislature is assumed to have known the existence of single member legislature party; and finally from the language of paragraph 3, it is evident that the Parliament did not intend to grant the benefit of paragraph 3 to a single person legislature party, having regard to the object of the Constitutional amendment dealing with evil of defection. Advisedly, the words are 'he and other members'....
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....ction on 28th June, 2004. On facts, we are unable to draw adverse inference and accept the plea of malafides. 76. Before parting, another aspect urged before us deserves to be considered. However, at the outset, we do wish to state that the Speaker enjoys a very high status and position of great respect and esteem in the Parliamentary Traditions. He, being the very embodiment of propriety and impartiality, has been assigned the function to decide whether a member has incurred disqualification or not. In Kihoto Hollohan's judgment various great Parliamentarians have been noticed pointing out the confidence in the impartiality of the Speaker and he being above all parties or political considerations. The High office of the Speaker has been considered as one of the grounds for upholding the constitutional validity of the Tenth Schedule in Kihoto Hollohan's case. 77. Undoubtedly, in our constitutional scheme, the Speaker enjoys a pivotal position. The position of the Speaker is and has been held by people of outstanding ability and impartiality. Without meaning any disrespect for any particular Speaker in the country, but only going by some of events of the recent past, c....