Judgment flawed, says Jaitley

Arun Jaitley, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, said the SC’s judgment quashing disqualification of 11 BJP MLAs was 'erroneous' because it was based on the premise that they only wanted to replace Karnataka chief minister BS Yeddyurappa and not want the BJP government to fall.

Arun Jaitley, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, said the SC’s judgment quashing disqualification of 11 BJP MLAs was 'erroneous' because it was based on the premise that they only wanted to replace Karnataka chief minister BS Yeddyurappa and not want the BJP government to fall.

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In an article put up on BJP website, Jaitley said, “An interpretation of this kind gives enough play of joints to potential defectors to misuse the provisions of the Tenth Schedule, play games with political morality and then put on an innocent expression and allege that they have done nothing wrong.”

He said the Supreme Court’s conclusions were based on a letter written by the rebel MLAs to Karnataka Governor HR Bhardwaj on October 6, 2010, which might not be correct.

The judgment by justice Altamas Kabir stated the 11 legislators were only against Yeddyurappa continuing as CM but wanted their party BJP to stay in power was not correct.

Jaitley said the SC may be ‘final’ but was not ‘infallible’.

Jaitley said: “We don’t have to merely learn to live with these errors. An erroneous judgment is a challenge to the future to correct the error in to which the judgment has fallen”.

Holding courts should quash orders of the Speaker only in exceptional circumstances, Jaitley said: “The legislature functions independently of the judiciary. The very concept of separation of power respects the decision of the Speaker.”