FB 426: Supreme Court takes on netas, with conviction:- In a landmark judgment, the SC strikes down a provision in the electoral law that protects a convicted lawmaker from disqualification on the ground of pendency of appeal in higher courts. In a move likely to clean the political system, the Supreme Court on Wednesday decided that lawmakers convicted of any crime will be immediately disqualified. The court struck down a provision in the electoral law, which ensures that convicted lawmakers cannot be disqualified if they appeal in a higher court within three months. “The only question is about the vires of section 8(4) of the Representation of the People Act (RPA) and we hold that it is ultra vires and that the disqualification takes place from the date of conviction,” a bench of justices AK Patnaik and SJ Mukhopadhaya said. This ruling could lead to several lawmakers in Parliament and state assemblies losing their seats. According to findings by the Association for Democratic Reforms, an NGO, 1,460 sitting MPs and MLAs face criminal charges in various cases. The court, however, said its decision will not apply to convicted MPs and MLAs who have already filed their appeals in higher courts before the pronouncement of this verdict. “If an ordinary citizen does not get this kind of benefit while he remains a convict, why should MPs get it?” the bench asked. Under Sec 8(3) of the RPA, a person convicted of any offence and sentenced to imprisonment for not less than two years shall be disqualified from contesting elections. Further, he or she cannot contest for six years even after acquittal. The following sub-section 8(4) says a lawmaker, if convicted, cannot be disqualified if he or she files an appeal in a higher court within three months. The court’s decision should come as welcome news for the election commission, which has been pushing for this amendment in the law for a while now. Political parties have opposed such a step by reasoning that it would lead to people levying false charges against politicians to prevent them from contesting. Law minister Kapil Sibal said the government will go through the judgment to see its impact on the politics of the country and hold consultations before deciding on the next step. BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said: “It is a very important issue with legal complexity and we would not like to comment on this without reading the judgment.” Congress spokesperson Renuka Chaudhary said: “We respect court verdicts and we still do not have full details of the judgment... We will take note of it.” DP Tripathi of the NCP said: “I welcome the judgment. A politician should be prevented from contesting even if he has been convicted for one day and he should not contest until he has been acquitted by a higher court.” The apex court’s verdict came on the petitions filed by Lily Thomas and NGO Lok Prahari through its secretary SN Shukla who had sought striking down of various provisions of RPA on the ground that they violate certain constitutional provisions which, among other things, expressly put a bar on criminals getting registered as voters or becoming MPs or MLAs. The fine print The Supreme Court has said parliamentarians and lawmakers convicted of a crime will be immediately disqualified. The court struck down as ultra vires, or invalid, a provision of the Representation of the People Act, which protects legislators and gives them three months to file an appeal. The SC decision will not apply to lawmakers who have been convicted and have filed their appeals in the higher courts before the pronouncement of this verdict. The court order also says a convicted lawmaker cannot contest elections again or cast his/her vote from jail. .... Thursday, Jul 11, 2013, 6:32 IST | Place: New Delhi | Agency: DNA dnaindia/india/1859642/report-supreme-court-takes-on-netas-with-conviction
Posted on: Thu, 11 Jul 2013 08:47:25 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015