Rajasthan Assembly Speaker CP Joshi on Monday, 27 July, withdrew his plea in Supreme Court against the High Court order asking him to defer his decision on disqualification notices issued to former Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot and 18 other MLAs.
Kapil Sibal informed the court that as the SC did not stay the 21 July order of the High Court that ordered no action against rebel MLAs to be taken by the Speaker, the HC proceeded to defer its verdict in the matter on 24 July and said that it will wait for the outcome of the petition in the Supreme Court first, SC lawyer Sunil Fernandes told The Quint.
Sibal reportedly told the court that the HC order of 21 July (which was the subject matter of challenge in the present SLP) has “merged” with the HC's order of 24 July and therefore this SLP against the order has become infructuous.
Therefore, the petition was withdrawn with the liberty to file a fresh SLP and keeping all grounds open.
The Rajasthan HC on Friday, 24 July, had ordered to maintain "status quo" on the disqualification notices issued by the Speaker to the 19 MLAs of Pilot’s camp and deferred its judgment till the Supreme Court decides on the questions of law.
According to ANI, Sibal told SC that Rajasthan HC’s 24 July order raised several other issues including interpretation of 10th Schedule. Sibal said they will weigh legal options and might challenge the 24 July order by the High Court.
The 24 July order had come as a relief to the Pilot camp as the Speaker would not be able to act upon the notice till both the Supreme Court and the High Court give their verdicts.
The HC also made the central government a party in the case against the Congress, Prateek Kasliwal, the lawyer of Speaker CP Joshi told the media. Additional Solicitor General (ASG) is representing the Centre in the court.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot’s government on Sunday proposed that the governor convene the Assembly session from 31 July. The proposal, however, had no mention of a floor test, reported ANI quoting sources.
Gehlot released a video message and said that the message behind party’s campaign ‘Speak up for democracy’ needs to be understood by people and even the ruling parties.
“It is worrying to see the current situation. The way the government in Karnataka was toppled, followed by Madhya Pradesh. Now in Rajasthan the government is asking the governor to convene the Assembly session,” he said.
Rajasthan Congress Chief Govind S Dotasra has said that the party will stage a protest outside all Raj Bahwans in the country except Rajasthan.
“We have sent a revised note to the governor and we hope he will soon give his approval for convening the session,” he said.
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