The court said there was violation of natural justice and no oral hearing was given to AAP MLAs before disqualifying them as legislators.
New Delhi: In a major relief to the Aam Aadmi Party, the high court today set aside the Election Commission’s recommendation and the subsequent Centre’s notification disqualifying 20 of its MLAs in the office of profit case.
The Delhi High Court holds the notification disqualifying 20 Aam Aadmi Party MLAs as bad in law, remands their plea back to the Election Commission which will hear it afresh.
The bench, in its 79-page order, said that the opinion (of EC) is quashed for “violation of principle of natural justice namely failure to give oral hearing and opportunity to address arguments on merits of the issue”.
“The order of remand is passed to the Election Commission of India to hear arguments and thereafter decide all the important and seminal issues, like what is meant by expression office-of-profit held under the government…,” the court said
It asked the EC to “re-examine the factual matrix to decide whether the petitioners (AAP MLAs) had incurred disqualification on appointment as parliamentary secretaries, without being influenced by the earlier order or observations on the said aspect in this order.
The judgement was read out by justice Sanjiv Khanna in a jam-packed courtroom, after which the jubilant AAP MLAs, who were present there, congratulated each other.
The court says there was violation of natural justice and no oral hearing was given to AAP MLAs before disqualifying them as legislators.
A bench said that the notification disqualifying the MLAs was bad in law and remanded their plea back to the EC which will hear it afresh.
“It is a victory of truth,” Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today said after the Delhi High Court set aside the Centre’s notification disqualifying 20 AAP MLAs in an office of profit case.
Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia too welcomed the order as he joined the AAP legislators in thumping tables in the Delhi Assembly during its ongoing Budget session. The MLAs shouted “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” in the Assembly after the order.
“It is a victory of truth. The elected representatives were wrongfully disqualified. The high court has given justice to the people of Delhi. It is their victory. Congratulations to the people of Delhi,” Kejriwal tweeted.