The Delhi High Court on Friday (March 23) set aside the EC recommendation to disqualify 20 AAP MLA in connection to the Office of Proft case.
The Delhi High Court on Friday (March 23) set aside the EC recommendation to disqualify 20 AAP MLA in connection to the Office of Proft case. The matter has been sent back to EC.
An elated Arvind Kejriwal tweeted that ‘truth has won’. He wrote: “Truth has won. The elected representatives of the people of Delhi were falsely dismissed. Delhi High Court gives justice to people of Delhi. Big win of the people of Delhi. Congratulations to the people of Delhi.”
The bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Chander Shekhar delivered the judgement on the grounds that the lawmakers weren’t given a proper hearing. The order said: "Opinion of the Election Commission of India is vitiated and bad in law for failure to comply with the principles of natural justice.”
Congress leader Ajay Maken said AAP’s celebration were premature. He said: “This is temporary relief. The AAP MLAs should not celebrate. They were holding the post of benefit.”
On January 21, President Ram Nath Kovind approved the disqualification of the MLAs, who were appointed as parliamentary secretaries by the Arvind Kejriwal-led government, after the Election Commission of India on January 19 had recommended for the same.
Earlier on January 22, the MLAs withdrew their plea from the High Court that they had filed on January 19 after the EC's recommendation.
The Delhi High Court, on that date, refused to pass any interim order of protection to those MLAs.
The salaries of 20 Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs, who were disqualified for allegedly holding the office of profit, have been stopped, Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel said. With salary and allowances, an MLA gets around Rs 90,000 per month in the national Capital.
According to the sources, other facilities, which are provided to MLAs, have also been stopped to these 20 AAP MLAs by the Assembly Secretariat.“The salaries of 20 MLAs, who had been disqualified by the Election Commission (EC), have been stopped. Their salaries for the month of February have not been released,” Speaker Goel said.
The 20 AAP MLAs have challenged the Election Commission's order in the Delhi High Court, which had reserved its order on February 28. Earlier, on January 24, the high court had refused to stay the Centre s notification disqualifying the MLAs, but restrained the EC from taking any precipitate measures such as announcing dates for by-polls in the Capital to fill the vacancies.
In a blow to the AAP, the EC had in January asked President Ram Nath Kovind to disqualify 20 of its MLAs for holding the office of profit, setting the stage for their ouster from the Assembly.
In its opinion sent to the president, the poll panel said the MLAs, by occupying the post of Parliamentary Secretaries between March 13, 2015, and September 8, 2016, held the office of profit, and were liable to be disqualified as legislators.
The president had approved the EC's recommendation and ordered disqualification of the MLAs.
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