Dimapur, Jan. 26 (EMN): The Naga People’s Front (NPF) has welcomed the recent Supreme Courts (SC) ruling on anti-defection law, directing the Parliament to ‘set up independent tribunal to decide disqualification petitions of lawmakers within reasonable time to give teeth to the anti-defection law instead of leaving it to Speakers who continue to remain political party members either de jure or de facto’.
Through a press release issued on Sunday, the NPF has urged the Parliament to “do away with quasi-judicial authority of a Speaker in matters of disqualification petitions”, saying that the Speaker, who also belongs to a particular political party, could be swayed away by political interest.
The party went on to say that there are many such cases like “the disqualification petition against 7 MLAs (NPF) which is still laying” unattended for about 10 months. It cited the recent SC ruling of Manipur congress MLAs disqualification case wherein the Speaker was directed to “dispose off the case within 4 weeks failing of which petitioner can approach the HC”.
The NPF also urged the Parliament to seriously consider the SC’s advice to amend the “Constitution to substitute ‘Speakers’ of the Lok Sabha and Assemblies which is under Tenth Schedule with a ‘Permanent Tribunal’ which could be headed by a retired SC judge or a retired chief justice of a HC or some independent mechanism to ensure that such disputes are decided swiftly and impartially”.
