The Deputy Speaker, Mr Nadendla Manohar, after a marathon meeting with legal advisers on Sunday, decided to initiate disqualification proceedings against three TD MLAs for “defection”. Though doubts were raised regarding whether or not the Deputy Speaker had the authority to oversee matters of disqualification, it was finally held that the objections had no legal backing as Constitutional provisions were clear about the powers and authority of the post.
The Advocate-General, Mr A. Sudarshan Reddy, who was present during Sunday’s meeting, submitted a detailed note to Mr Manohar stating that though the post of Deputy Speaker was not specifically mentioned in the Constitution, Article 180 of the statute empowered the Deputy Speaker to decide when the post of Speaker was vacant.(DC)
