SC dismisses review petitions of six former MPs

New Delhi, Apr 12 (UNI) The Supreme Court today dismissed the petitions filed by six former MPs seeking review of the apex court judgment upholding the expulsion of 10 Members of Lok Sabha and one member of Rajya Sabha for taking money for raising questions in Parliament.

The Lok Sabha had expelled 10 MP s who were caught on camera while taking money from people for raising their grievances and problems in the house during a sting operation.

A five-judge Constitution bench headed by the then Chief Justice YK Sabharwal had while upholding the decision of the Lok Sabha dated December 23,2005 expelling the 10 MPs had ruled that the action of the Speaker can be examined by the apex court.

The Constitution bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan, and Justices C K Thakker, R V Raveendran, D K Jain and V S Sirpurkar today dismissed the review petitions filed by Rajaram Pal, Ram Sewak Singh, Chattarpal Singh Lodha, Suresh Chandel, Pradip Gandhi and Anna Saheb M K Patil holding them devoid of merit and deserving dismissal.

There was confrontation between the judiciary and the Speaker when the latter refused to accept notice of the court contending that action of the Speaker was not subject matter of judicial review.

The apex court, however, proceeded to examine the issue and directed the Election Commission not to hold byelections to Lok Sabha constitutencies which had fallen vacant due to the expulsion of MPs for their involvement in cash for query scam without prior permission of the apex court.

The petitioners had challenged the expulsion on the grounds that Constitution does not have provision for expulsion of a sitting MP and an MP can only be disqualified.

The government, however took the stand that the house can punish its members by expelling them from the house if their actions bring disrepute to the dignity of the house and such actions cannot be challenged in the court of law.

The court, however, ruled that action of the Speaker can be examined by the court.

UNI