The Supreme Court on Wednesday disposed of a writ petition filed by Lakshadweep MP Mohammad Faizal against his disqualification from the Lok Sabha, in the light of a notification issued hours ago by the Lok Sabha Secretariat reinstating him in the Parliament.
A Bench led by Justice K.M. Joseph said that the court was not pronouncing anything on the maintainability of the petition filed by the Nationalist Congress (NCP) MP.
The case was originally listed before the Bench, also comprising Justice B.V. Nagarathna, on Tuesday. The hearing had been deferred to March 29.
In his petition, Mr. Faizal had said that the Lok Sabha Secretariat had failed to withdraw the disqualification notification issued against him despite the fact that his conviction had been stayed by the Kerala High Court on January 25.
“The petitioner is constrained to invoke the extraordinary jurisdiction of this court under Article 32 of the Constitution against the unlawful inaction on the part of the respondent, Secretary General of the Lok Sabha Secretariat, in not withdrawing the notification dated January 13, 2023, whereby the petitioner was disqualified from his membership of Parliament from the Lakshadweep parliamentary constituency,” the petition had said.
It was further claimed that the Secretariat’s inaction was in the “teeth of the settled law” that disqualification incurred by a Member of Parliament (MP) under Section 8 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, ceased to operate if the conviction was stayed by the appellate court under Section 389 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
The petition said that the Election Commission had recalled the byelection press note of January 18, 2023.
Mr. Faizal’s case had gained the spotlight due to the disqualification of Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi from the Lok Sabha following his conviction in a criminal defamation case.
