Karnataka crisis: Bench rises, ball back in Speaker’s court as no show in SC today

New Delhi, July 19: The ball is now in the Speaker's court as the Supreme Court has not taken up the plea filed by both the Congress and JD(S) relating to the crisis in Karnataka.

The Bench headed by the Chief Justice of India, Ranjan Gogoi has risen and the matter has not been taken up. This means that the ball is in the court of the Speaker, who can chose to ignore the deadline issued by the Governor.

The Governor who had told the H D Kumaraswamy led government to prove its majority by 1.30 pm today has fixed another deadline of 6 pm for today.

In case, the government does not adhere to this deadline, the BJP is likely to petition the Supreme Court about the same. The BJP will tell the court that the government has not adhered to both the deadlines, despite the Governor issuing the same.

Both the Congress and JD(S) have petitioned the Supreme Court seeking a clarity on its July 17 order which had said that it was not mandatory for the rebel MLAs to remain in the assembly when the trust vote proceedings take place.

The Congress represented by Dinesh Gundu Rao and the JD(S) by Chief Minister, H D Kumaraswamy have sought a clarification on the the rights of their respective parties to issue a whip.

The petitions have questioned the decision of the SC which said that the 15 rebels cannot be compelled to attend assembly. They say that this violated the right of the party under the Tenth Schedule to issue a whip to the MLAs.

The petitioners said that the July 17 order of the SC has no impact on the right of the party to issue a whip to its legislators.