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Hans India
01-08-2025
- Politics
- Hans India
MLAs defections: SC gives Speaker 3 months to decide
Hyderabad/New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday delivered a crucial verdict on the petition filed by the BRS leaders on the disqualification of 10 of its MLAs, who had joined the ruling Congress party. The apex court asked the Telangana Assembly speaker to take a decision within the next three months. In its 74-page judgement, the court struck down the orders of the division bench of the High Court and wanted the Parliament to take a decision on the time-limit for the speaker to take a decision. It observed that it cannot allow a situation of 'operation successful, but patient dead' by allowing the petition to be kept pending, which would eventually allow the MLAs to benefit. The apex court rejected the prayer by the petitioners that it should decide the disqualification petitions, referring to the precedents in Kihoto Hollahan and Subhash Desai cases of a similar nature. BRS working president K T Rama Rao and MLA Padi Kaushik Reddy had filed the petitions against the MLAs' defections. The Supreme Court observed that the MLAs should not ask for extending the process as if they persist with such a plea, the Speaker can take an adverse decision. Political defections have become a topic of discussions and if these are not stopped, these have the power to damage democracy, it held. 'We have also examined various speeches made in Parliament on this issue on various occasions. The Speaker's decision on disqualification proceedings is to avoid delay in courts. The Speaker is empowered to act against those who have changed parties. The powers of judicial review in relation to Articles 136, 226, 227 are very limited. The division bench erred in interfering with the orders of the single judge of the Telangana High Court. The Speaker, while acting as a judicial officer, acts as a tribunal subject to the jurisdiction of the High Court and the Supreme Court,' the court ruled. The Court observed that the Speaker cannot get constitutional protection by acting in such a manner. 'We are setting aside the judgment of the division bench of the Telangana High Court on November 22, 2014. Even in important decisions, Speakers of the Legislative Assembly are delaying action against defectors who pose a threat to democracy. Therefore, there was a need for Parliament to review the existing mechanism for disqualification of MLAs under the Anti-Defection Act. Such actions become meaningless after years. It is unfortunate that the Speaker has issued a notice on the issue only after the Supreme Court had issued a notice'.
Hindustan Times
25-06-2025
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
₹20,000 crore approved for land acquisition & realignment of Nagpur-Goa expressway
MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government on Tuesday decided not only to go ahead with the Nagpur-Goa Shaktipeeth Expressway but also to fund the complete process of land acquisition for the project. It has approved a sum of ₹ 20,787 crore for acquiring more than 7,500 hectares of land. Of the total amount, ₹ 12,000 crore will be taken as a loan from the Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO). A file photo of Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis with Shiv Sena leaders Subhash Desai and Diwakar Raote. (PTI photo) (PTI) The state cabinet took the decision despite strong resistance from farmers, especially those from western Maharashtra districts. During the meeting, two ministers—medical education minister Hasan Mushrif and state health minister Prakash Abitkar—expressed their reservations about taking the project ahead despite this opposition. Both are from Kolhapur district. The ministers suggested that the state government hold discussions with the affected farmers and try to find a way out of the situation. 'They told the cabinet that the Mahayuti coalition had already faced a backlash from farmers during the Lok Sabha elections,' revealed a minister privy to the development. 'This could be repeated in the upcoming polls if the state government decides to forcibly implement the project.' Taking this into consideration, the cabinet approved partial alignment of the project. 'It has approved the alignment connecting Pavnar, which falls in Wardha district, to Sangli covering more than 700 km,' revealed a senior official from the public works department (PWD). The cabinet also decided to scrap the alignment going through Shirol, Karvir, Hatkanangale, Kagal, Bhudargad and Ajara talukas of Kolhapur district. 'Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis directed the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) to prepare an alternate alignment for the remaining part of the project connecting Sangli with Sindhudurg district,' said another PWD official. 'Once this is done, the CM and the two deputy chief ministers will hold consultations with all the stakeholders—local MLAs and ministers among others—before taking a final decision on the alignment.' Deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar too confirmed that the state government was planning to change the alignment. 'When the ministers expressed their concern regarding resistance from farmers and requested Fadnavis to hear them out, he assured them that there was no reason for them to continue with the project if people were opposing it,' Pawar told reporters. 'The CM also assured them that he would try to change the alignment.' The state is powering ahead with this expressway despite opposition from farmers, as it requires private agricultural land on a large scale. In the run-up to the assembly elections last year, the then chief minister Eknath Shinde had promised that the project would not be imposed on the farmers but the government changed its position after coming to power with an unprecedented majority. The 802.592-km-long expressway will connect 12 districts: Wardha, Yavatmal, Hingoli, Nanded, Parbhani, Beed, Latur, Dharashiv, Solapur, Sangli, Kolhapur and Sindhudurg. It will later be linked to the Mumbai-Goa highway close to the Goa border. The expressway will reduce travel time between Nagpur and Goa from 18 to eight hours. The expressway has also been positioned as a religious and cultural corridor aimed at enhancing pilgrimage connectivity across Vidarbha, Marathwada and western Maharashtra, as it will connect three major pilgrimage sites—the Mahalaxmi temple (Kolhapur), Tulja Bhavani Temple (Dharashiv) and Renuka Mata Shakti Peeth Temple (Nanded). The project will be executed by the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC).
