Cal HC disqualifies Mukul Roy as member of WB Assembly, sets aside nomination as PAC chairman

Kolkata, Nov 13 (PTI) The Calcutta High Court on Thursday disqualified senior leader Mukul Roy as member of the West Bengal Assembly under the anti-defection law for switching over to the ruling TMC, after having been elected on a BJP ticket in the 2021 elections.

The court termed as "perverse" the decision of the Speaker, who had in his finding on a plea for Roy’s disqualification as an MLA under the anti-defection law held that he was a BJP MLA.

It also set aside Roy's nomination as chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) since his membership of the House suffered disqualification with effect from June 11, 2021.

A division bench presided by Justice Debangsu Basak said that it has no hesitation in setting aside Assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee's order of June 8, 2022, by which he had junked a petition by Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, seeking Roy's disqualification.

The court allowed another plea by BJP MLA Ambika Roy, which was heard analogously with Adhikari's petition on an order of the Supreme Court, for disqualification of Mukul Roy.

"Mukul Roy is declared to have become disqualified in terms of the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution of India and the Rules of 1986 with effect from June 11, 2021," the bench, also comprising Justice Md Shabbar Rashidi, said.

The court observed that given the gamut of the evidence laid before the Speaker by Ambika Roy in the adjudication proceedings, the only plausible conclusion is that the decision of the Speaker on the issue of disqualification of Mukul Roy "is perverse".

"No reasonable person could have arrived at the conclusion as returned by the respondent No 1 (Speaker Biman Banerjee) on the basis of the materials placed before him.

"Perversity vitiating the impugned decision is accentuated by the respondent No 1 deploying a wrong yardstick evaluating the rival contentions," the court said.

The bench said that BJP MLA Ambika Roy has been able to establish that Mukul Roy defected from the BJP to the Trinamool Congress on June 11, 2021.

"Such action of Mukul Roy has incurred the disqualification contemplated under the Tenth Schedule," it observed.

The disqualification petition was filed before the Speaker on June 17, 2021, alleging defection by Mukul Roy on June 11, 2021.

The Speaker had taken a decision on February 11, 2022, dismissing the disqualification petition.

Another division bench of the high court had by an order dated April 11, 2022, set aside the decision of the Speaker and directed fresh adjudication.

The court, in its judgment passed on Thursday, said that the Speaker had misapplied the law in deciding the disqualification petition, and misappreciated the factual position in arriving at his decision dated June 8, 2022, in again holding that Roy was a BJP MLA.

The high court noted that Mukul Roy was elected as a member of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly from Krishnanagar Uttar constituency on a BJP ticket in the 2021 assembly polls, but defected to the TMC on June 11, 2021 by announcing the same at a press conference.

The presser was attended by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

His joining the TMC was also broadcast on the official X handle of the ruling party.

The court noted that Ambika Roy had produced electronic evidence, transcript of the press conference, and other materials before the Speaker.

The second writ petitioner had established through the pleadings available before the Speaker that Mukul Roy was present in the press conference held by the TMC, the bench said.

It also noted that Mukul Roy did not deny the event was held by the TMC and that he was present there. PTI AMR RBT