Speaker's office: 'Fear of bias expressed by minority view in 1992 judgement comes home to roost'

The Supreme Court on Tuesday rued that its experience with regard to decisions taken by the Speakers on disqualification petitions against rebel legislators has proved the fear expressed in the landmark judgement in 1992 about bias and impartiality of the presiding officer of the House.

The minority view in the judgement in Kihoto Hollohan (1992) stated, “The Speaker being an authority within the House and his tenure being dependent on the will of the majority therein, the likelihood of suspicion of bias could not be ruled out”.

The judgement had then upheld the sweeping discretion available to the Speaker under the Tenth Schedule (anti-defection law) of the Constitution in deciding cases of disqualification of MLAs under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution and kept such decisions outside the purview of judicial review.

The minority view, however, pointed out, “In the Tenth Schedule, the Speaker is made not only
the sole but the final arbiter of such dispute with no provision for any appeal or revision against the Speaker's decision to any independent outside authority. This departure is a reverse trend and
violates a basic feature of the Constitution since the Speaker cannot be treated as an authority... notwithstanding the great dignity attaching to that office with the attribute of impartiality.”

Dealing with a question on continuance of a Congress MLA as a minister in BJP-led government in Manipur, a bench presided over by Justice R F Nariman said, “This court’s experience of decisions made by Speakers generally leads us to believe that the fears of the minority judgment in Kihoto Hollohan have actually come home to roost.”

The court, however, did not agree to a plea by senior advocate Kapil Sibal for quashing appointment of Thounaojam Shyamkumar, who had won as Congress MLA but switched side to the BJP, to take charge as Forest and Environment Minister in the state.

It directed the Assembly Speaker to decide the disqualification petitions within four weeks.