The Supreme Court on Saturday said KG Bopaiah will continue as pro tem speaker ahead of the floor test in the Karnataka assembly scheduled for 4 pm.
The apex court, however, observed that the pro tem speaker could hold a division vote for the floor test (without directing the same), and directed that a live telecast of the proceedings be held to ensure transparency.
"In view of Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta's statement on live telecast of trust vote, nothing more can be done," the Bench said.
The order also mentioned that the secretary of legislative Assembly would record the floor test, and provide live feed to several local channels, which would simultaneously telecast the footage.
This is how the Supreme Court hearing on Saturday played out:
On Friday at 7.45 pm Advocate Dev Dutt Kamat had filed the application, which was then listed to be heard by a bench comprising of Justices Arjan Kumar Sikri, Sharad Arvind Bobde and Ashok Bhushan at 10.30 am the next day.
The plea by both Congress and JD(S) has said that except for administering oath and conducting floor test, the pro tem speaker should be restrained from exercising any other power.
Congress leader RV Deshpande is the most senior member in the House and has won elections eight out of nine times that he has contested since 1983. Meanwhile, the second-most senior leader in the House is BJP’s Umesh Vishwanath Katti – who has won seven out of eight elections since 1985.
Pointing to the "brazen unconstitutional action" in appointing Bopaiah after the passing of the order earlier on Friday morning, the plea filed by both the Congress and JD(S) said that despite the existing parliamentary convention and practice of appointing the most senior member of the assembly as pro tem speaker, a junior MLA K G Bopaiah (BJP) has been appointed for the position.
The application said that Bopaiah has a "dubious and controversial record of passing biased disqualification orders" and had earlier in the day alleged that his appointment was made "with the sole intent of manufacturing a majority out of minority for BS Yeddyurappa".
Both JD(S) and Congress have opposed the governor's move. Congress MP Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who represented the Congress in the Supreme Court on Friday, said: "What the BJP has done is not the right thing. By asking a person who is not the most senior MLA to be a pro tem speaker. But, that is, at the moment, under consideration. Today, the pro tem speaker requirement remains while the SC is two-fold: a) swear himself, sit there and b) to swear in the others and immediately after that, without anything else, to carry out the vote."
Bopaiah, who had earlier served as speaker between 2009-2013, and was also pro tem speaker in 2008, has courted controversy in the past. In a move that drew major flak, he had disqualified 11 rebel BJP MLAs and 5 independents in 2010. This had played a major role in the survival of the BJP government in Karnataka, the first time that they had won in a south Indian state.
He had also earned the ire of the Supreme Court for the decision and the manner in which he acted during the trust vote. The Supreme Court had quashed his decision and said that it did not meet the twin tests of natural justice and fair play.
(With inputs from The News Minute, PTI)
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