The Supreme Court continued to grill the Maharashtra government on the resolution passed by the state Assembly on July 5, 2021 that states to suspend 12 BJP MLAs for one year over their alleged misbehaviour in the house.
A bench headeed by Justice A.M Khanwilkar and comprising Justices ustices Dinesh Maheshwari and C.T. Ravikumar, shot a volley of questions at senior advocate C.A. Sundaram, on the rationality of suspending the MLAs beyond the session of the House.
Justice Khanwilkar told Sundaram that the suspension of the MLAs should not be greater than the session of the House, and anything other than this would be irrational. “Your decision of 1 year is irrational because of the deprivation of the constituency being unrepresented for more than 6 months…,” said the bench.
Justice Ravikumar said: “Another is danger to democracy…..Suppose there is a slender lead of the ruling party (in the Assembly), and 15 or 20 people are suspended, what will be the fate of democracy?”
The bench queried Sundaram: “suspension up to what period and for what purpose?”
The hearing will continue on Wednesday.
