Rajasthan HC adjourns hearing on rebel Congress MLAs' plea till Monday

The Rajasthan High Court on Friday adjourned till Monday the hearing in a petition filed by Sachin Pilot and 18 other dissident Congress MLAs, challenging the disqualification notices issued by the assembly Speaker.

The court directed Speaker CP Joshi not to take any action against the rebel MLAs till Tuesday. 

The Speaker was expected to take up at 5 pm Congress complaint seeking disqualification of 19 MLAs from the assembly. The notices issued by the Speaker to MLAs had asked them to respond by Friday to the Congress move to disqualify them from the state assembly.

A division bench of the Rajasthan High Court began hearing a petition filed by dissident Congress MLAs, including Sachin Pilot who was earlier removed by the party as its state unit chief and deputy chief minister. 

Advocate Harish Salve, representing MLAs, argued before a bench of Chief Justice Indrajit Mahanty and Justice Prakash Gupta that acts outside the House are not a violation of anti-defection law.