The Supreme Court on Wednesday said it expected Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to take an "expeditious" decision on a plea seeking the disqualification of 20 rebel Trinamool Congress (TMC) MPs who have joined the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI).
A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana said it was aware that it could not direct the Lok Sabha Speaker, "but we just want to remind him about expeditious resolution".
The plea has been filed by Abhishek Banerjee, the TMC MP from West Bengal's Diamond Harbour constituency.
Speaker has already issued notices
At the start of the hearing, senior advocate Kalyan Banerjee, appearing for the TMC leader, told the court that the rebel MPs had not submitted their responses despite notices being issued to them and had sought more time.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Speaker, said notices had already been issued on the disqualification petitions.
"The Speaker is expected to know what he has to do. He knows the seriousness of the matter," Mehta said.
The CJI then said, "We will expect anything which is required to be decided expeditiously, the very nature of the lis... demands early adjudication. We just want to remind him about expeditious resolution."
Centre opposes fixing timeline
Mehta questioned whether one constitutional functionary could remind another of their constitutional duties.
"I want to ask a question to myself. Can a constitutional functionary remind another constitutional functionary of his constitutional duty?
He also urged the court not to prescribe a timeline for the Speaker.
"I will not make any commitment. I will explore...This court's monitoring may not be justified. I would urge not to fix Speaker's schedule," Mehta said.
Justice Bagchi said the court was only reminding the authority about the need for an expeditious decision, keeping in mind the importance of the anti-defection provisions under the 10th Schedule.
SC cites 2020 anti-defection ruling
Justice Bagchi referred to the Supreme Court's 2020 judgment in Keisham Meghachandra Singh Vs Speaker, Manipur Legislative Assembly, in which the court said defection cases should be decided within a reasonable period, preferably within three months.
He asked Mehta to submit a timeline for the Speaker's decision, but the Solicitor General declined to make a commitment.
The Supreme Court subsequently recorded the rebel MPs' submission that they would file their replies within four weeks and adjourned the matter.
TMC, rebel MPs differ over merger
The dispute began after 20 TMC Lok Sabha MPs announced that they had joined or merged with the NCPI, a Tripura-based political outfit, and sought separate recognition in Parliament.
The rebel MPs have since been treated as an NCPI group and have participated in NDA parliamentary activities.
The TMC has argued that the MPs were elected on its symbol and that their move amounts to voluntarily giving up membership of the party, attracting disqualification under the anti-defection law.
The rebel camp, however, has maintained that the move constitutes a valid merger.
The petition names the Speaker, the Lok Sabha secretary general and the 20 MPs as respondents.