Bhopal: The Supreme Court has dismissed the Special Leave Petition (SLP) filed by the state government, against the MP High Court decision, on Friday.
The state government had challenged the MP High Court’s decision, in which the Court had given stay on the suspension of the conviction and two years jail sentence to the BJP MLA Prahlad Lodhi, in a 2014 criminal case.
One of the three counsels who appeared for the BJP MLA, Harmeet Singh Ruprah, informed Free Press, “The apex court’s two-judge bench comprising Justices Rohinton Fali Nariman and Ravindra Bhatt, while dismissing the state government’s SLP, observed that the Madhya Pradesh High Court had rightly stayed the MLA’s conviction on November 7,”
While the state government was represented by senior advocates-turned-politicians Kapil Sibal and Vivek Tankha.
The BJP MLA was represented by former Attorney General of India, Mukul Rohtagi, former Madhya Pradesh Advocate General Purushendra Kourav and Harmeet Singh Ruprah.
The Congress Rajya Sabha member and advocate Vivek Tankha informed , “We submitted before the apex court that our SLP merited hearing as the High Court while granting stay on the conviction and punishment of the BJP MLA on November 7 had not followed the principles of the Supreme Court, as per which the conviction can only be stayed in exceptional circumstances. But the court didn’t agree with our submissions and dismissed the SLP challenging the HC order”.
“We will going to take suggestions from the legal expert and will going to bring motion of privilege breach through the MLA Lodhi against the speaker”, Reacted the former minister Narottam Mishra, on the SC dismissing MP government’s SLP.
He lashed on the assembly speaker NP Prajapati and condemned the hasty decision to disqualify the BJP MLA within two days of being convicted in the criminal case by a Special Court in Bhopal.
He alleged that the speaker is trying to save the minority government by taking the wrong steps.
It now remains to be seen whether the Assembly Speaker revokes the disqualification of the BJP MLA or not, particularly as the next session of MP Vidhan Sabha is slated from December 17.
On November 7, a single judge bench of MP High Court in Jabalpur headed by Justice Vishnu Pratap Singh Chauhan had directed that the conviction and sentence of the appellant Prahlad Lodhi shall remain suspended till January 7, 2020.
