Panaji: The Goa Bench of Bombay High Court on Friday issued notices to Speaker of Goa Legislative Assembly and eight MLAs who had shifted from Congress to BJP, returnable within two weeks.
The Special Bench of the High Court comprising Justice B P Colabawalla and Justice Bharat P Deshpande issued notice to Speaker Ramesh Tawadkar and eight MLAs to reply within two weeks.
The Disqualification petition was filed by former Goa Pradesh Congress Committee President Girish Chodankar.
The eight MLAs from Congress had joined BJP in September 2022.
State Advocate General Devidas Pangam told reporters that the Bench has asked the respondents to file reply within two weeks.
“The contention of the petitioner is that his petition should be decided on fast basis,” he said.
“Chodankar had moved to the High Court on February 02, 2023 pleading to direct the Speaker of Goa Legislative Assembly to decide the disqualification petition against eight defected MLAs of Congress within 90 days,” said Advocate Abhijit Gosavi representing the petitioner.
The next hearing on the matter is fixed on February 24, 2023, he added. The Disqualification petition was filed by Chodankar before the Speaker on November 11, 2022.
