Is Speaker’s decision subject to judicial review? wait for Supreme Court word

“What decision a Speaker takes, is it subject to judicial review,” asked a three-judge bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra while hearing a plea filed by AIADMK MLA K Pandiarajan. At the outset, Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar sought time to file written submissions in the matter.  

“I am requesting that the matter be listed for hearing after two weeks so that I can give a written note to the court,” Kumar told the bench which also comprised Justices Amitava Roy and A M Khanwilkar. 

Senior advocate Gopal Subramanium, who was representing Pandiarajan, referred to a verdict passed by a constitutional court of South Africa and said the sanctity of the assembly can be preserved only by the Speaker. He also argued that the representation given by the MLAs to the Speaker in the matter was still pending. 

The bench, after a brief hearing, posted the matter for August 9 and directed that a copy of the petition be served to Tamil Nadu’s counsel also. Attorney General K K Venugopal had last week recused himself from the matter saying he had given legal opinion to the AIADMK faction led by Panneerselvam. 

The apex court had earlier sought the Attorney General’s assistance to examine the plea after the petitioner had claimed that MLAs had voted in the trust vote under distress and members of opposition were evicted by the marshals from the assembly. 

Subramanium had earlier said that there should have been a secret ballot but Tamil Nadu Speaker P Dhanapal had rejected this demand from MLAs during the trust vote.