Judgment :

ALTAMAS KABIR, J.

1. These Special Leave Petition (C) Nos.33333-33335 of 2010 arise out of a final judgment and order dated 15th November, 2010, passed by the Karnataka High Court at Bangalore in M.W.No.9995/10, M.W.No.10529/10, M.W.No.10698/10, W.P.No.32674/10, W.P.No.32675/10, W.P.No.32676/10, W.P.No.32677/10 and W.P.No.32678/10, allowing the writ petitioners' application, being Misc.W.No.9995 of 2010, praying for leave to amend a portion of paragraph 9 of the Writ Petitions.

2. The Writ Petitioners, D. Sudhakar, Venkataramanappa, Gulihatti D. Shekar, Shivaraj S. Thangadgi and P.M. Narendra Swamy, were all elected as independent Members in the General Elections held to the 13th Karnataka Legislative Assembly. After being elected, they supported the exercise undertaken by the Bhartiya Janata Party (hereinafter referred to as "B.J.P.") led by Shri B.S. Yeddiyurappa, leader of the B.J.P. Legislature Party, to form a Government in the State in May, 2008. The writ petitioners, who have been made the Respondent Nos.1 to 5 in these Special Leave Petitions, apart from extending support, also joined the Government as Ministers and it appears that they also attended meetings of the B.J.P. Legislature Party.

3. On 6th October, 2010, each of the independent Members informed the Governor that due to corruption and nepotism in the functioning of the Government, they had become disillusioned and were thus withdrawing their support to the Government headed by B.S. Yeddiyurappa. The very next day, Shri D.N. Jeevaraju and Shri C.T. Ravi, who were the Chief Whip and Member Secretary of the B.J.P. in Karnataka, filed a petition before the Speaker for disqualification of the five independent Members from the Assembly under paragraph 2(2) of the Tenth Schedule to the Constitution. On 8th October, 2010, a show-cause notice was also issued by the Secretary of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly to the Respondent Nos.1 to 5 herein, requiring them to file objections in writing by 5.00 p.m. on 10th October, 2010, as to why appropriate orders should not be passed for their disqualification under paragraph 2(2) of the Tenth Schedule to the Constitution. It was also mentioned that if the said Respondents failed to be present or to file their objections on or before the said date, the matter would be decided in accordance with law.

4. It is the case of the Respondent Nos.1 to 5 that they had not been individually served with copies of the said show-cause notice and that on 9th October, 2010, they came to learn through the media about the issuance of the show-cause notice and sought copies of the same along with all annexures. It is the further case of the said Respondents that on 10th October, 2010, at 11.00 a.m. they were provided with the copies of the show-cause notice and copies of the complaints and documents filed by the Respondents. According to the said Respondents, they filed interim replies dated 9th October, 2010, to the show-cause notice and sought for time to file complete objections thereto. The matter was taken up for hearing at 3.30 p.m. on 10th October, 2010, and despite the prayer for time filed by the Respondents, the Speaker of the Assembly passed orders on the same day disqualifying the Respondent Nos.1 to 5 under paragraph 2(2) of the Tenth Schedule to the Constitution with immediate effect. The very next day, the vote of confidence sought by the 8th Respondent in the Writ Petition, the Chief Minister of the State, before the Karnataka Legislative Assembly, was to take place. The Respondents, therefore, hurriedly filed Writ Petition Nos.32764-78 of 2010 challenging the order dated 10th October, 2010, in Disqualification Application No.2/10 filed by D.N. Jeevaraju and C.T. Ravi, in order to obtain stay of the order of the High Court and enable them to participate in the proceedings of the House.

5. In view of the urgency of the matter, a request was made to the Chief Justice of Karnataka to convene a Bench and sitting of the