The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to a contention that the Manipur Governor cannot skip conveying his decision on recommendation made by the Election Commission on disqualification of 12 BJP MLAs on issue of office-of-profit.
The top court was hearing a writ petition by a Congress MLA from Manipur Assembly, D D Thaisii, for disqualification of 12 BJP MLAs on the ground of holding post of Parliamentary secretaries which amounted to office of profits.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the petitioner, contended before a three-judge bench presided over by Justice L Nageswara Rao that the constitutional authority cannot keep the decision pending. He said just one month remained for expiry of the term and everything would be over by then.
The bench, also comprising Justices B R Gavai and B V Nagarathna, agreed to the submission that the Governor cannot skip taking the decision. Referring to the case of Rajiv Gandhi convicts, the court noted that there are instances where the Governor has been nudged to take decisions.
Senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan said the opinion of the Election Commission was binding on the Governor.
The court issued notice to the secretary to the Governor on a plea for production of the decision.
The bench put the matter for consideration on November 11.
Earlier on the day, the court ticked off the state government counsel after it was informed that Solicitor General Tushar Mehta was on legs before another bench, saying the petition cannot be made infructuous by taking adjournments.
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