Sharad Yadav's plea against disqualification be heard by division bench: HC told

The plea of former JD(U) president Sharad Yadav, challenging the order of the Rajya Sabha Chairman disqualifying him as an MP, should be heard by a division bench, the Delhi High Court was told today.

The counsel for leader of JD(U) in the Upper House Ram Chandra Prasad Singh said the matter related to Yadav's disqualification and ought to be heard by a division bench in consonance with the observations made by the Supreme Court in another case.

Justice Rajiv Shakdher said Singh should file an independent application in this regard and listed the matter for May 23.

Singh, through senior advocate Dinesh Dwivedi, has also sought modification of the court's December 15 last year's order allowing Yadav to enjoy the perks, salary, allowances and bungalow of an MP. Yadav was disqualified from the House on December 4 last year.

 

Yadav had joined hands with the opposition after the JD(U) president and Bihar chief minister, Nitish Kumar, dumped the alliance with the RJD and the Congress in Bihar and tied up with the BJP in July last year.

Earlier, senior advocate Sanjay Jain, representing the Chairman of Rajya Sabha, had also sought that the matter be heard by a division bench.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Yadav, had opposed the plea.

The high court had earlier observed that Yadav may have to refund the salary drawn by him during the pendency of his petition challenging his disqualification as a Rajya Sabha member, if he was not successful in his plea.

The high court on December 15 last year, while refusing to grant an interim stay on Yadav's disqualification, had allowed him to draw his salary, allowances, perks and retain the bungalow.

The same order was later passed by the court on a similar plea moved by Yadav's colleague and MP, Ali Anwar, both of whom were disqualified from the Upper House by the December 4, 2017, order of the RS chairman.

Yadav has challenged his disqualification on several grounds, including that he was not given any chance to present his views by the Rajya Sabha chairman before he passed the order.

On the other hand, Ram Chandra Prasad Singh had sought disqualification of Yadav and Anwar on the ground that they had attended a rally of opposition parties in Patna in violation of party directives.

Yadav was elected to the Rajya Sabha last year and his term is scheduled to end in July 2022. Anwar's term was to expire this (rpt this) year. Both were disqualified under the Anti-Defection Act.

Yadav's plea, filed through advocate Nizam Pasha, said that the December 4, 2017 order had disqualified him in an "extremely casual and callous way".