BJP MLA Vijender Gupta moves HC challenging his suspension from Delhi Assembly

New Delhi, March 23 (IANS) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Vijender Gupta on Thursday moved the Delhi High Court against Legislative Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel's decision to suspend him for a year for allegedly interfering in the Assembly proceedings and 'disrupting the House'.

A division bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Sachin Datta was hearing the MLA' s plea, which was mentioned by senior advocate Jayant Mehta.

The bench allowed an urgent hearing of the matter for Friday.

"This is about the sitting MLA who has been disqualified from attending the House for one year which is in the teeth of the Supreme Court judgment as well as the Rules of the House... Under Article 194, there is an indefensible right to participate in the proceedings," Mehta said.

The plea moved through advocates Pavan Narang, Neeraj and Satya Ranjan Swain, submitted that the order passed by Goel is unjust, unfair and unreasonable.

The petition states that the order violates the "Rules of Procedure & Conduct of Business, Legislative Assembly of National Capital Territory of Delhi."

"...the impugned action of the Hon'ble Speaker in permitting a ruling party MLA to move and proceed with the Motion to seek suspension of the petitioner from the House for a period of one year does not come within the definition of 'irregular proceedings' but in fact is a classic case of being categorized as 'gross illegal' and 'unconstitutional' but also contravention/violation of fundamental rights of the petitioner under Articles 14 and 19 of the Constitution of India," the plea states.

The plea seeks direction from court to revoke Gupta's suspension with immediate effect and to permit him to attend the Assembly and exercise his rights and privileges in the capacity as MLA.

During the assembly sitting, Gupta had proposed a breach of privilege motion against Finance Minister Kailash Gahlot and Environment Minister Gopal Rai for leaking Delhi budget details on social media.

Goel had responded: "As per rules, such a notice needs to be given three hours before. You are saying that it should be taken up for discussion today itself. It seems the aim is to create a ruckus and waste the time of the House."

The Speaker also issued a strict warning to Gupta.

The notice given by him mentioned the leaking of details of the 'Outcome Budget', which was tabled in the Assembly on Monday, but while speaking in the House, he spoke about the 2023-24 Budget that is to be tabled.

Gupta brought up the matter once more when the House reconvened at 2 p.m., and AAP MLA Sanjeev Jha then urged that he be expelled for a year.

The motion was passed by the House, with Goel saying that Gupta was suspended from the Delhi Assembly proceedings till the next Budget session.