Back
2017 Supreme(Gau) 1312
IN THE HIGH COURT OF GAUHATI, ITANAGAR BENCH
Achintya Malla Bujor Barua, J.
Padiricho – Appellant
Vs.
Speaker, Arunachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly – Respondent
WP(C) No. 613(AP) of 2016
Decided On : 22-09-2017
For the Petitioner:Mr. K.C. Mittal and Mr. R.S. Jandhyala, Advocates
For the Respondents:Mr. N. Dutta, Mr. R. Dwivedi, Mr. A. Apang, Mr. B. Chahar, Mr. S.R Khatri, Mr. B. Vardhan Singh, Mr. V. Singh Jangra, Ms. S. Pathak, Mr. T.T. Tara, Mr. B.V. Singh, Mr. N. Ratan and Mr. O. Pada, Advocates
Headnote:
Representation of Peoples Act, 1951 - section 152 - Constitution of India, 1950 - Article 191(2),102, 191, 188, 194(2), 179(c), 208, 212, Arunachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly (Disqualification on ground of defection) Rules, 1987 - Rules 3(1), 3(7), 4 , 6 and 4(3) - Conduct of Election Rules, 1961 - rule 96 - Legislative Assembly - Constituted as per the Assembly Election - Certain dissident activities took place within INC which ultimately resulted in some INC MLAs having merged with PPA and on being elected as leader of PPA Legislature Party with support of 11 BJP and 2 Independent MLAs was sworn in as Chief Minister of State of Arunachal Pradesh - Whether 43 INC MLA's had merged with PPA and had merely provided that claim of merger will be taken up as a defence when a petition for disqualification is filed - Whether in such event also of Speaker would be construed to be an order deciding on merger of aforesaid MLA's - Whether these 30 MLAs remain as INC MLAs or they were PPA MLAs - Whether there is a split or not and in case a member is put up by a national political party it is split in that party which is of relevant consideration and not a split of that political party at State level – Held, In view of such conclusion contention raised by learned Advocate General that present writ petition against order of Speaker of 6th Arunachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly is not maintainable in view of provisions of article 194(2) of Constitution is found to be unacceptable - In premises above contentions raised by petitioner that claim of merger by 43 INC MLAs as flows from different resolutions does not satisfy requirements of a merger both factually as well as under law as well as contention that 43 MLAs having been elected on INC tickets by taking a recourse to policies of INC, which were found acceptable by electorate INC would suffer loss and injury on their claim of a merger with PPA, would now be taken up by petitioner and other similarly situated persons of INC before Speaker while deciding petition for disqualification which had already been filed - Petition disposed of.
Achintya Malla Bujor Barua, J.
Heard Mr. K.C. Mittal, learned senior counsel and Mr. Ravi Shankar Jandhyala, learned counsel for the petitioner, Mr. N. Dutta, learned Advocate General for the State of Arunachal Pradesh appearing for the respondent Nos. 1 and 2, being the Speaker of the Arunachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly and the Secretary of the Arunachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly, Mr. A. Apang, learned senior counsel appearing for the respondent No.3 being the Election Commission of India, Mr. R.K. Dwivedi, learned senior counsel appearing for the respondent Nos. 4, 10, 18, 20, 21 to 24, 26 to 32 and 34 to 41, Mr. B. Chahar, learned senior counsel appearing for the respondent Nos. 7 to 17 and Mr. T.T. Tara, learned counsel appearing for the respondent Nos. 5, 6, 19, 25, 33, 42, 43 and 45.
2. The 6th Legislative Assembly of the State of Arunachal Pradesh was constituted as per the Assembly Election held in April 2014. The Arunachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly comprises of 60 seats and out of the same, in the Election held in April 2014, 42 members were from the Indian National Congress ('INC'), whereas 11 members were from Bharatiya Janata Party ('BJP'), 5 members were from Peoples Party of Arunachal Pradesh ('PPA') and 2 members were from Independent.
3. After the election, Mr. Nabam Tuki was elected as the leader of the INC Legislature Party and accordingly was invited to form the Government and was sworn in as the Chief Minister of the State of Arunachal Pradesh.
4. On 19.12.2014, 5 PPA MLA's merged with the INC, thereby increasing the strength of INC in the house to 47 members. It is noted that when the 5 PPA MLA's merged with the INC on 19.12.2014, the required information of change in party affiliation was provided to the Speaker of the Assembly and the Speaker had caused the publication of the information in the Bulletin Part-II of the Arunachal Legislative Assembly.
5. In September, 2015, certain dissident activities took place within the INC, which ultimately resulted in some INC MLAs having merged with the PPA and late Kalikho Pul on being elected as the leader of the PPA Legislature Party with the support of 11 BJP and 2 Independent MLAs, was sworn in as the Chief Minister of the State of Arunachal Pradesh on 19.2.2016. Prior to it, there were certain political activities resulting in the Governor of the State proroguing the sitting of the Assembly, which was assailed by the then Speaker in a writ petition, which ultimately resulted in the judgment and order dated 14.7.2016 of the hon'ble Supreme Court in Nabam Rebia v. Speaker, Arunachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly. By the said judgment, a status quo ante of the INC Government led by Mr. Nabam Tuki was restored.
6. On 19.7.2016, Mr. Pema Khandu was elected as the leader of the Legislature Party of the INC and he was sworn as the Chief Minister of the State with the support of 47 INC MLA's.
7. On 16.9.2016, a joint meeting of the INC Legislature Party Arunachal Pradesh in the 6th Arunachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly and the other members of the INC was held in the office of the Chief Minister at the Chief Minister's Secretariat at 10.00 a.m. As per the minutes of the said meeting of 16.9.2016, the joint meeting was chaired by Mr. Pema Khandu, the Chief Minister and leader of the INC Legislature Party, which was attended by leaders, office bearers and the workers of the INC and out of the 44 INC MLAs, 43 were present. The minutes stated that the 43 MLAs constituted ?rd of the total strength of the members of the INC Legislature Party in the 6th Arunachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly, thereby enabling the claimants therein to go for a merger with the PPA, which according to them would be a protection against disqualification under the Tenth Schedule to the Constitution of India. By stating the reason as to why such merger would be benefited, the leade
