Biman Banerjee, the Speaker of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly, can go to the Supreme Court this time in the Mukul Roy case. In a case filed by BJP MLA Ambika Roy, Mukul was recently dismissed as MLA and the Speaker has been given a deadline of 7 October to decide on the post of chairman of the Public Accounts Committee. According to assembly sources, the top officials of the assembly had a wide-ranging discussion with the lawyers on whether the directive interfered with the speaker’s authority. That issue could be used as a tool to go to the Supreme Court. A special leave petition is likely to be filed in the Supreme Court this week.
The court gave the order in the Mukul case on 27 September. After that, the officials on behalf of the assembly took legal advice in this regard from the Advocate General of the state Soumendranath Mukherjee. Sources also said that talks are underway with the state government to get lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi in the Supreme Court in the case. Legislative officials on Saturday held a virtual conference on the issue with Congress Rajya Sabha MP Abhishek from West Bengal.
Incidentally, Mukul won the BJP symbol from Krishnanagar North in the Assembly elections. However, on 11 June, he joined the TMC. After that, the Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari approached the Speaker to demand the dismissal of his MLA. With Mukul being made the chairman of PAC, the BJP parliamentary party also approached the Calcutta High Court on the issue. Three months after Mukul’s transfer, the Speaker did not take a decision, but the High Court asked Speaker Biman to take a decision by the 7th. According to an official of the Legislative Assembly, a ‘leave petition’ will be filed in the Supreme Court in this case. However, the basis on which the affidavit will be filed will be finalised in a day or two.
During the hearing of the Mukul case, the lawyer of BJP MLA Ambika Roy gave an example of the resignation of a MLA of Manipur Assembly in the court. In that case, the Supreme Court directed the Speaker of the Manipur Legislative Assembly to take a decision within three months. In this case, the division bench of the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court has mentioned the specific day. Discussions in the political arena, the BJP-TMC politics fight is about to reach the perimeter of the court this time. They further explained that the central leadership of the BJP could provide all possible legal assistance to the West Bengal BJP council to prevent the MLAs from leaving the party.
