Team Goemkarponn
DELHI: The Supreme Court of India has closed as infructuous a Special Leave Petition (SLP) filed by former Goa Congress president Girish Chodankar challenging the role of the Speaker of the Goa Legislative Assembly in the 2022 defection of eight Congress MLAs to the BJP.
In its order, the apex court observed that subsequent Assembly elections had been conducted during the pendency of the petition, making the issues raised in the case largely academic.
The Bench noted that since a fresh legislative term has commenced, the reliefs sought in the petition no longer survive for consideration in the same context. It further recorded that Chodankar has filed another SLP involving similar questions of law. Granting him the liberty to raise additional grounds in the connected matter, the court held that the present petition did not require further adjudication and was liable to be disposed of as having become infructuous.
Accordingly, the SLP was disposed of, with the court clarifying that the petitioner may advance any further submissions in the subsequent proceedings already under consideration.
The Bench also directed respondents to file their counter-affidavits within four weeks, followed by rejoinders, if any, within two weeks thereafter. The matter has been listed for hearing on April 7.
Earlier, the Supreme Court had issued notices to the Speaker of the Goa Legislative Assembly and to the eight MLAs who were elected on Congress tickets in 2022 but later joined the BJP. Chodankar had questioned both the Speaker’s decision and a High Court ruling that upheld the legislators’ move.
The court had also ordered that this plea be heard along with Chodankar’s earlier petition concerning the 2019 switch of 10 Congress MLAs to the BJP, which similarly raised issues relating to disqualification and the interpretation of merger provisions under the anti-defection law.
