HC Division Bench upholds order revoking expulsion of Congress MLAs

Hyderabad : The Hyderabad high court on Monday dismissed a review petition of the ruling TRS MLAs challenging the verdict given by the single judge revoking the expulsion of Nalgonda MLA Komatireddy Venkat Reddy and Alampur MLA S A Sampath Kumar.

A division bench comprising acting chief justice Ramesh Ranganathan and justice K Vijayalakshmi upheld the verdict given by the single judge on April 17 which revoked the expulsion of two Congress MLAs from the Telangana state assembly for their alleged misconduct in the House on the first day of the budget session on March 12.

In their review petition, 12 TRS MLAs had challenged the judgement of the single judge. They had contended that the two Congress MLAs had damaged the dignity and decorum of the House and hence, the House had passed a unanimous resolution expelling the duo for the rest of the assembly’s tenure.

Supreme Court senior counsel and Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who argued on behalf of Venkat Reddy and Sampath Kumar, asserted that a group of TRS MLAs had no authority to challenge the court verdict, as only the assembly Speaker or the Secretary had the right to appeal.

The Congress party has welcomed the HC order and demanded that the State Government immediately restore the rights and privileges of Komatireddy and Sampath Kumar as MLAs.