Speaker's tribunal grants 3 weeks for reply
Source: Chronicle News Service

Imphal, October 25 2024: The Speaker's Tribunal of the Manipur Legislative Assembly on Friday granted the respondents three weeks to submit their replies in the disqualification cases against five JD (U) MLAs who defected to the BJP.

The cases pertain to allegations of defection, with different petitioners pressing for swift proceedings to comply with a Supreme Court mandate requiring disqualification petitions to be resolved within three months of filing.

The five MLAs - Kh Joykisan Singh, Ngursanglur Sanate, Md Achab Uddin, Thangjam Arunkumar, and LM Khaute - are facing disqualification petitions filed by Hareshwar Goshwami, represented by lead counsel N Bupenda Meitei.

During the proceedings, advocate Bhupenda urged the tribunal for urgent hearing and swift decision on the cases, citing a Supreme Court directive requiring all disqualification petitions to be resolved within three months of filing.

He also requested access to copies of the tribunal's daily orders and moved to correct the year of filing from 2024 to 2022, indicating that the petitions were originally filed in 2022.Apart from Bhupenda, advocate Ajoy Pebam is representing petitioners M Dorendro and M Surjit while senior advocate L Anand Singh and junior associates of senior advocate RS Reisang are the counsels of the respondents.

The latter counsels requested three to four week extension to respond even as the petitioners' counsel pressed for a prompt resolution.

After hearing arguments from both sides, the Speaker's Tribunal granted the respondents three weeks to file their replies.

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