Victoria files petition against Goa speaker

Panaji, Aug 8: Disgusted with the refusal of Speaker Pratapsinh Rane to accept her resignation letter, lone woman Congress legislator Victoria Fernandes yesterday filed a petition in the Panaji Bench of Bombay High Court here against Mr Rane.

The petition is posted for hearing today before the division bench, comprising Justice R S Mohite and Justice Nelson A Britto.

Atmaram Nadkarni is the counsel for the petitioner.

Terming the action of the Speaker as ''partisan, illegal and unconstitutional under the Article 226 of the Constitution'', Mrs Fernandes, and MLA from Santa Cruz constituency in the petition, sought the court to issue a writ of mandamus directing Mr Rane to accept her resignation forthwith.

Mrs Fernandes, who had submitted her resignation letter to the Speaker on July 25 before extending her support to the anti-Congress coalition of BJP-led Goa Democratic Alliance (GDA), averred that the Speaker should have immediately accepted her resignation as she did so ''with full consciousness and under no duress''.

She alleged the Speaker did not accept her resignation on the pretext that it was not submitted to him in person, to benefit his son, who is a minister in the government, and himself.

UNI