Padi Kaushik Reddy Etc. Vs State of Telangana And Others Etc. (Supreme Court of India)
Supreme Court held that Legislative Assembly Speakers acts as a Tribunal under the Tenth Schedule to the Constitution and doesn’t enjoy the constitutional immunity from judicial scrutiny under Article 122 and 212 of the Constitution. Accordingly, the petition is allowed.
Facts- Danam Nagender filed his nomination as a candidate of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi from the Khairatabad Assembly Constituency on 6th November 2023. Similarly, two others namely Venkata Rao Tellam and Kadiyam Srihari filed their nomination from Bhadrachalam Assembly Constituency and Ghanpur Station Constituency as candidates of BRS on 9th November 2023.
Notably, Danam Nagender, Venkata Rao Tellam and Kadiyam Srihari won the election from their respective constituency. Subsequently, the Appellants in the lead matter namely Padi Kaushik Reddy and Kuna Pandu Vivekanand, who are themselves MLAs belonging to BRS, filed separate petitions under Paragraph 2(1) of the Tenth Schedule read with Article 191(2) of the Constitution of India and Rules 6(1) and 6(2) of the Members of Telangana Legislative Assembly (Disqualification on ground of Defection) Rules, 1986 before the Telangana State Legislative Assembly on 18th March 2024, 2nd April 2024 and 8th April 2024. The common prayer in all the three petitions was for a declaration from the Speaker of the Telangana Legislative Assembly that the MLAs from BRS who joined the INC be declared as disqualified from continuing as members of the Telangana Legislative Assembly.
