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Synopsis

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday reserved order in the Seven Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs plea, who were suspended for disrupting the Lieutenant Governor's address on February 15 in the Delhi Assembly Budget session.

While reserving the order, Justice Subramonium Prasad directed both parties to file their written submissions. 

On February 22, Senior Advocate Jayant Mehta, appearing for the 7 BJP MLAs suspended from the Delhi Assembly Budget Session, informed the Court that they had met the Speaker. "Except to say that by 1 o'clock today, I must give a response to the privileges committee, and at 2:30 pm today, the committee will proceed," he had submitted.

The court, which began hearing the petitions on merit had said their suspension was resulting in their constituencies going unrepresented in the House. “He is a representative of the people in the assembly. There is a constituency that is going unrepresented,” Justice Prasad had remarked.

On February 21, the court had asked the seven BJP MLAs, suspended from the Delhi Assembly for disrupting the Lieutenant Governor's address, to meet the speaker. Justice Prasad had asked the legislators to meet the speaker.

Senior Advocates Jayant Mehta and Kirti Uppal, on behalf of the suspended MLAs, had apprised the court that an apology letter was sent to the LG and that he had accepted the apology. "However, according to the respondents, the speaker is the person we should have called. We sent a copy of the letter to the speaker, and we also sent it to the LG. Although we don't admit any wrongdoing, it was meant as an apology," Mehta had added. 

Notably, on February 20, the court raised the prospect of an apology from seven BJP MLAs suspended from the Delhi Assembly for disrupting the Lieutenant Governor's address.

The judge had asked the senior counsel representing the suspended legislators to ascertain if they were willing to offer apologies. This suggestion followed a similar approach adopted by the Supreme Court in the case of MP Raghav Chadha.

On February 19, Senior Advocates Jayant Mehta and Kirti Uppal had appeared before the court for the petitioners. Mehta had submitted that the Supreme Court had already said that a parliamentarian cannot be suspended for an indefinite period. "A maximum punishment of three days can be given for the first incident and seven days for the second incident of violation. This is the first punishment," he had said.

Seven Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs, out of a total of eight in the Delhi Assembly, who were suspended for disrupting the Lieutenant Governor's address on February 15, moved the High Court to challenge the decision.

Background

The BJP MLAs faced suspension on February 16 following disruptions during the Lieutenant Governor's address on the first day of the budget session. Their protests led to the interruption of Governor VK Saxena's speech within less than thirty minutes.

AAP MLA Dilip Pandey proposed action against the BJP MLAs, prompting Speaker Ram Niwas Goel to refer the matter to the Privileges Committee. Subsequently, the House approved the suspension of seven BJP MLAs, with the exception of Leader of Opposition Ramveer Singh Bidhuri, until the committee presented its findings.

The suspended members, including Mohan Singh Bisht, Ajay Kumar Mahawar, Om Prakash Sharma, Abhay Verma, Anil Vajpayi, Jitender Mahajan, and Vijender Gupta, were directed by the Speaker to leave the assembly premises.

Pandey accused the BJP MLAs of tarnishing the government's reputation and undermining the House's dignity in the presence of the media. He further alleged that the BJP's actions were squandering Delhi's tax revenue by obstructing the legislature's functioning.

In response to their suspension, the BJP MLAs, alongside the opposition leader, staged protests inside the Assembly, chanting slogans, and later demonstrated outside the Chief Minister's office.

Case Title: Ajay Kumar Mahawar & Ors. v. Legislative Assembly of the NCT of Delhi & Anr. (connected matters)