Speaker free to decide on resignations by MLAs: Supreme Court

New Delhi : Passing an interim verdict over a plea filed against the resignations of MLAs, the Supreme Court on Thursday said that the speaker can take as much as the time he requires to decide on it. The apex body also ordered that the lawmakers also could not be forced to attend the trust vote scheduled for Thursday.

“Speaker should be free to make a decision, should not be fettered by any court direction,” the top court bench headed by CJI Ranjan Gogoi said while adding ‘can’t compel MLAs to attend assembly’.

The imperative necessity, at this stage, is to maintain the constitutional balance and the conflicting and competing rights that have been canvassed before us, the top court added.

A total of sixteen MLAs have submitted their resignations to the speaker, leaving the Karnataka government coalition ( Congress-JDS) on the verge of collapse.

The rebels had argued in court on Tuesday that their resignations must be accepted by the Speaker and that they could not be “forced to attend the assembly”.

If the speaker accepts their resignation then, the 15-month old coalition government will fall a little short of the majority mark.