Kolkata, July 15 -- The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday continued hearing an appeal filed by Trinamool Congress MLA Sovandeb Chattopadhyay challenging a single bench's refusal to grant interim relief against the West Bengal Assembly Speaker's decision to appoint breakaway faction MLA Ritabrata Banerjee as the Leader of the Opposition (LoP).
The division bench of Justices Shampa Sarkar and Ajay Kumar Gupta heard detailed submissions from senior advocate Joydeep Kar, appearing for Banerjee, who argued that the Speaker's decision was consistent with the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution dealing with anti-defection provisions.
Kar submitted that the appointment of the LoP could not be decided merely on the basis of a single letter and that the Speaker was required to examine several factors. Referring to the Supreme Court's Shiv Sena judgment, he argued that numerical strength was only one of the considerations and maintained that no disqualification petition had been filed or was pending in the present case.
He also contended that the minutes of the June 9 meeting relied upon by the rival faction did not bear the signatures of the party chairperson or general secretary and said he had taken oath as an MLA
on June 15.
During the hearing, the bench questioned whether the Speaker had considered the complaint lodged by the breakaway faction after a section of MLAs walked out. The judges observed that the issue was "not merely a matter of numbers" and also sought clarification on the House quorum under Article 189 of the Constitution.
Appearing for Chattopadhyay, senior advocate Kalyan Banerjee informed the court that the Election Commission had sought a response from his clients regarding the factional dispute and that a detailed reply had already been submitted. The hearing will continue
on Thursday.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.