Telangana Assembly: dissolution puts lid on disputes

The dissolution of the Telangana Assembly has finally put a lid on disputes over the disqualification of several MLAs and expulsion of two Congress MLAs from the Assembly.

Senior lawmakers say that whatever pending issues were before the House like bills, business and even legal disputes or cases will become infructuous following the dissolution of the Assembly.

There was a case in the Supreme Court over the disqualification of several turncoat MLAs who joined the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS). As many as 25 MLAs out of which 12 from TDP, seven from Congress, three from YSR Congress Party (YSRCP), two from the BSP and one from the CPI switched over to the TRS. The respective parties filed disqualification petitions before Speaker S Madhusudhana Chary. He has not considered the petitions so far.

The Opposition then approached the apex court. The Supreme Court has decided to constitute a five-member Constitution bench to adjudicate the matter on the Speaker’s powers to intervene in court matters but the bench has not been constituted. Even if the bench is constituted by the Supreme Court and the case continues, the disqualified MLAs need not attend court as they would no longer be members as the Assembly is dissolved.

Two Congress MLAs S A Sampath Kumar and Komatireddy Venkata Reddy were expelled from the Assembly and the decision of the House was challenged in the court. This case would also become infructuous, legal experts said.

Similarly, the case pertaining to Talasani Srinivas Yadav, a TDP MLA who was inducted into the TRS, would become null and void.