Cabinet overrules Supreme Court....Clears ordinance to shield convicted MPs, MLAs
Source: The Sangai Express / Agencies
New Delhi, September 24 2013:
The UPA cabinet on Tuesday cleared an ordinance to reverse the Supreme Court judgment that calls for immediate disqualification of lawmakers convicted of a criminal offence punishable with two years or more in jail, TV channels are reporting.
The ordinance allows convicted MPs/MLAs to continue if their appeal is admitted by a higher court within 90 days and the conviction stayed.
The lawmakers, however, will not vote or draw salaries till the case is decided.
The Supreme Court had said that lawmakers sentenced to jail for over two years will stand disqualified.
Most political parties had reacted strongly against the July 10 verdict of the SC and wanted it reversed through an amendment to the Representation of the People Act, but public opinion forced a rethink.
days and the conviction stayed.
The lawmakers, however, will not vote or draw salaries till the case is decided.
Following the court order, senior Congress Rajya Sabha member Rashid Masood, convicted in a corruption case on September 19 and to be sentenced on October 1, risked losing his seat.
Lalu Prasad, former Railway Minister and chief of the Rashtriya Janata Dal, which gives outside support to the UPA, too would have lost his membership of the Lok Sabha if found guilty in a fodder scam case to be decided on September 30 .