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Delhi HC junks Chirag’s plea against uncle Paras
New Delhi The Delhi high court on Friday dismissed a plea by Lok Janshakti Party leader Chirag Paswan challenging Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla’s decision to recognise his uncle Pashupati Kumar Paras as the leader of the party in the House
New Delhi
The Delhi high court on Friday dismissed a plea by Lok Janshakti Party leader Chirag Paswan challenging Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla’s decision to recognise his uncle Pashupati Kumar Paras as the leader of the party in the House.
Justice Rekha Palli said there was no merit in the petition as the Speaker has the right to regulate the internal disputes of the House. The judge said the court cannot be asked to solve the internal party disputes.
“Now it is very clear. If you want to press, it is your wish. I am clear this is inter-party dispute. You can exercise your remedies. You take your call..But the court cannot get into this dispute,” the judge said.
“It is well settled that the right to regulate internal disputes of the House is the prerogative of the Speaker,” the high court said. “I find absolutely no merit in the petition. The petition is dismissed,” the court said.
The high court, which was inclined to impose cost on Chirag, did not do so after a request was made by his counsel.
Chirag’s petition, filed on July 7, had sought setting aside speaker’s June 14 circular showing the name of Paras as LJP leader in the Lok Sabha. Paras was inducted into union cabinet on July 7.
During the hearing, advocate Arvind Bajpai, representing Chirag, said among the six party MPs, five wrote to the Speaker to recognise Paras as leader of the party in the House and directions were passed in this regard.
Thereafter, the party chose to remove those five MPs and also approached the Speaker to take action and declare Chirag as the leader of the party in the House, he said. However, the speaker has not corrected the alleged mistake of recognizing Paras as the leader of the party in the House, he contended.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, and senior advocate Raj Shekhar Rao for the speaker’s office vehemently opposed the petition saying Chirag was attempting to get the inter-party dispute resolved in the court.
They said five out of six members of the party had approached the Speaker with the fact that Paras was the whip holder of the party and that the action of the Speaker cannot be faulted with.
The court, while agreeing to the submissions of the counsels, said that it was not inclined to grant any relief.
