New Delhi, Sept. 24 -- The Supreme Court on Wednesday reminded Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla that the disqualification petitions of 20 rebel Trinamool Congress MPs have been waiting for a decision for three months, and asked whether a timeline should be fixed for disposal of these pleas. A bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant said that considering the "paramount importance" of the Tenth Schedule of Constitution (which is also known as the anti-defection law ), the court , in two past decisions in 2020 and 2025, laid down a three-month deadline as a "red flag" for Speaker to decide such matters. Considering the disqualification petitions were filed on June 18, the bench, also comprising justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana said, "today, the three month period has lapsed. With the period having lapsed on September 18, we will not put a constitutional authority (Lok Sabha Speaker) to ransom but we will remind you that our earlier decisions held such matters must be decided in three months. Since notice has been issued by you, we would hope the decision is taken within some time-frame." Solicitor general Tushar Mehta who appeared for the Speaker said that being a constitutional authority, he is performing a function under the Constitution and the court should not prescribe a timeline. "Does a constitutional authority need to be reminded? This is a case where notice has been issued and further monitoring by the court may not be justified. It may not be correct to fix the Speaker's schedule," he said. But the CJI said that the "presumption that there is no need to remind" the Speaker is "rebuttable" . "We will keep the petition alive and get further progress from the Speaker." Justice Bagchi added, "What we want to explore is a timeline. You come back and give us a timeline." The 20 rebel MPs exited the TMC and merged with little-known political party Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI). Out of the 20 MPs, 19 submitted a petition to the Speaker seeking recognition of their merger with NCPI. However, the merger request submitted on June 14 is yet to be accepted. The court said that in the Keisham Meghachandra Singh case relating to Manipur, the top court laid down a three-month deadline for the Manipur Speaker to decide disqualification pleas in its 2020 judgment. This rule was reiterated in 2025 when it asked the Telangana Speaker in the Padi Kaushik Reddy case to follow the 2020 judgment. "As per the above decisions, three months will be a red flag. We may not give imperative directions but keeping in mind these decisions, resolve the issue expeditiously," the court told the Speaker. The bench, however, refrained from passing any order on fixing a timeline after it was told that the Speaker had given time for the rebel MPs to respond till September 22 and that they had since sought additional time. Senior advocate Neeraj Kishan Kaul appearing for the MPs told the court that they need four more weeks to file a response. Noting this statement, the court adjourned the matter for four weeks. The rebel MPs, also represented by senior advocate Maninder Singh, argued that any direction by the court should not curtail their right to have a reasonable time for filing a response before the Speaker. The bench pointed out that considering the "slur" of defection on them, they should pray "to be cleansed at the earliest of this constitutional sin."...