Delhi HC refuses interim stay on Ali Anwar's RS disqualification, allows perks related to membership till disposal of his plea

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday refused to grant an interim stay on the disqualification of rebel JD(U) leader Ali Anwar as a Rajya Sabha member but allowed him to draw his salary, allowances, perks and retain the bungalow. It also restrained him from attending the ongoing Winter Session of Parliament. The Session is scheduled to end on Friday. “The order (of the Rajya Sabha chairman) cannot be stayed at this stage,” Justice Vibhu Bakhru said and made it clear that the interim directions would be in force till the disposal of Anwar’s main petition. The judge directed that in the interim period, all prerequisites and privileges associated with membership of the House shall continue. [caption id=“attachment_4271771” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Rebel JD(U) leader Ali Anwar. News18 Hindi[/caption] The court also issued notice to the Rajya Sabha chairman besides Ram Chandra Prasad Singh, who is leader of the JD(U) in the Upper House, on Anwar’s plea challenging 4 December, 2017 order of the Chairman disqualifying him and former JD(U) president Sharad Yadav as members. It asked the the Upper House chairman and Singh to file their counter affidavits and fixed the main petition for hearing on 1 March. On 15 December, 2017 the high court had granted similar interim relief to Sharad Yadav on his plea challenging his disqualification. The interim order had come on Yadav’s plea challenging his disqualification on several grounds, including that he was not given any chance to present his viewpoint by the Rajya Sabha chairman before passing the order against him and his colleague on 4 December, 2017. Senior counsel Kapil Sibal and advocate Nizam Pasha, who appeared for Anwar, sought a stay on his disqualification and requested the court to direct the authorities not to evict him from his bungalow till the matter was finally decided. Anwar, who had rebelled against the official JD(U) faction led by Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar after the latter joined hands with the BJP, has termed the Upper House chairman’s order as “perverse, contrary to the rules of natural justice and tainted with malafide”. The plea has stated that the filing of an application before the Election Commission of India (ECI) by the Yadav-led faction for recognition as the real JD(U) could not lead to the inference that he voluntarily gave up his membership of the party. Yadav was elected to the Rajya Sabha in 2016 and his term was scheduled to end in July 2022. Anwar was elected to the House in year 2012 and his term was scheduled to expire in April. Naidu, while disqualifying the two, had accepted the JD(U)’s contention that they had “voluntarily given up” their party membership by defying its directives and attending events of Opposition parties. The JD(U) had sought their disqualification on the grounds that they had attended a rally of Opposition parties in Patna in violation of its directive.