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SC suspends 2 Telangana MLCs, says its order was misinterpreted, misused
The court said the induction of M Kodandaram and Amer Ali Khan could not be traced to any lawful cabinet recommendation after the court’s August 2024 order
The Supreme Court has suspended the functioning of two members of the legislative council (MLCs) in Telangana, holding that their swearing-in under the governor’s quota was not valid and was based on a misinterpretation of its interim order.
A bench of justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta made it clear that the induction of M Kodandaram and journalist Amer Ali Khan could not be traced to any lawful cabinet recommendation after the court’s August 2024 interim order, and directed that the two posts remain open for fresh recommendations by the state cabinet.
“We are… inclined to modify the interim order passed on August 14, 2024… The functioning of respondent nos. 4 and 5 as members of the legislative council of state of Telangana on the strength of the interim order shall be forthwith suspended and kept in abeyance,” the bench said, noting that its earlier order had been “misinterpreted and misused” to administer oath to Kodandaram and Khan.
The controversy originated in September 2023, when then-governor Tamilisai Soundararajan rejected the previous cabinet’s proposal to nominate Dasoju Sravan Kumar and Kurra Satyanarayana to the council. After a change in government, the cabinet headed by chief minister A Revanth Reddy recommended Kodandaram and Khan in January 2024, and the new governor, Jishnudev Varma, approved their nominations.
After Kumar and Satyanarayana filed petitions, the Telangana High Court in March 2024 quashed both their rejection and the subsequent nominations. While Sravan Kumar and Satyanarayana appealed to the Supreme Court because the high court order did not mention that they could be considered afresh by the governor, the state authorities treated the Supreme Court’s August 2024 stay of the high court judgment as reviving the nominations of Kodandaram and Khan, who were sworn in as MLCs days later.
Releasing its order on Tuesday, the top court rejected this interpretation and noted that since no fresh recommendation in favour of Kodandaram and Khan was made after that order, “the action… in proceeding to administer oath… was misplaced.”
The bench also pointed out that Kodandaram and Khan had not themselves challenged the high court’s decision, and thus “cannot get any relief on the strength of an interim order passed in the petitions of other contesting parties.”
The top court clarified that the cabinet was free to make fresh recommendations for the two seats, which the governor should consider in accordance with the law. The cabinet may also reconsider the names of either the original nominees, Kumar and Satyanarayana, or Kodandaram and Khan, but only through a fresh process. Any such nomination, the bench maintained, would be subject to the final decision of the court.
