Porvorim: Congress party in Goa on Wednesday petition before the Speaker of Goa Legislative Assembly Rajesh Patnekar for expeditious disposal of application filed before him to disqualify ten Congress MLAs who had switched over to BJP in August, 2019.
Goa Pradesh Congress Committee President Girish Chodankar who is a petitioner in the case has sought disqualification of all the ten MLAs under tenth schedule of the Indian Constitution.
The application was filed before the Speaker on August 08, 2019.
“The Applicant/Petitioner has filed the captioned petition under Article 191(2) of the Constitution of India read with Xth Schedule of the Constitution of India, seeking a declaration that Respondent No.1 to 10 has incurred disqualification under the provisions of schedule X of the constitution,” the petition filed before the Speaker by Chodankar on Wednesday reads.
The petitioner has sought disqualification of current Deputy Chief Minister Chandrakant Kavlekar, Deputy Speaker of the Assembly Isidore Fernandes, State Revenue Minister Jeniffer Monserrate, State Water Resources Department Minister Filipe Neri Rodrigues and other MLAs Nilkant Halarnkar, Antonio Fernandes, Francisco Silveira, Wilfred D’Sa, Clafasio Dias and Antanasio Monserrate.
Chodankar recalled that the Speaker had called for preliminary hearing in this application on October 15, 2019 at 12 noon.
“The petitioner through his Advocate appeared before this Hon’ble authority on October 15 and presented the case of the Petitioner before this Hon’ble Authority. The Advocate of the petitioner was informed that the next course of action shall be intimated subsequently, however till date neither the petitioner nor his advocate has been communicated with any kind of information regarding the next hearing/further course of action in the matter,” Chodankar said.
The Congress leader said that since the filing of the captioned petition in the month of August, 2019, there has been no meaningful progress in the matter and the adjudication in the matter is being unreasonably delayed.
“It is almost five months since the filing of the disqualification petition, however no effective progress has taken place in the matter,” he said.
Chodankar said that the respondents who has incurred disqualification under the Xth Schedule of the Constitution are getting undue and undeserving advantage of continuing as the member of the Legislative Assembly on account of delay which is being caused in disposal of the captioned petition.
“The Applicant states and submits that delay in disposal of disqualification petition virtually amounts to defeating the very purpose and objectives of anti-defection law as contained in Schedule Xth of the Constitution,” Chodankar said.
“The delay in deciding the disqualification proceedings is against the very grain an object of Schedule Xth of the Constitution of India,” he added.
“It is submitted that justice delay is justice denied and in present case the delay caused in delivery of justice is giving undue and undeserving benefit to the respondents to illegal continue as member of the Legislative Assembly,” he added.
Shifting of ten MLAs from Congress had rose the strength of BJP on the floor of the House to 27 following which Pramod Sawant-led government had dropped four of its ally members from the cabinet including three from Goa Forward Party.
