Rajasthan political crisis: HC tells Speaker to maintain status quo on disqualification of Sachin Pilot, 18 MLAs till Monday

Jaipur: The Rajasthan High Court on Friday directed to maintain ‘status quo’ on the disqualification proceeding against former Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot and 18 other MLAs of his camp pending before the State Assembly Speaker. “The court has given a status quo order on the 14 July order of the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly Speaker. The court has observed that the petitioners’ prayer numbers 3 and 4, which seek to allow them to continue as MLAs, does not come under its jurisdiction,” advocate Prateek Kasliwal, lawyer of Assembly Speaker CP Joshi, told reporters. He also said that the High Court has made the Central government a party in the case. “The court has also directed to complete the pleading in the matter. The final hearing will take place after the pleading completes and an early listing application is moved. The High Court will only hear the matter related to whether the notice issued by the Speaker was right and whether Schedule 2 (1) (A) is Constitutional,” Kasliwal said. The lawyer said that the matter will now be taken up by the Supreme Court. Earlier, Rajasthan High Court asked Assembly Speaker CP Joshi to defer the proceedings pending before him on the disqualification notices issued to Pilot and 18 MLAs of his faction and put off the verdict on the matter till 24 July. On Thursday, the Supreme Court held that the Rajasthan High Court can pass an order on former Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot and other MLAs’ plea against disqualification notice issued against them by the State Assembly Speaker. Joshi had approached the top court with an SLP against the interim order of the Rajasthan High Court, which had on Tuesday asked Speaker CP Joshi to defer the proceedings pending before him on the disqualification notices issued to Pilot and 18 MLAs, and put off the verdict on the matter till 24 July. The notices were issued to Pilot and 18 MLAs under the anti-defection law after the chief whip’s application for their disqualification. They were earlier asked to present before the Assembly Speaker on 17 July, but the same was deferred in view of the hearing before the High Court. The development had come as Rajasthan Congress is in turmoil after simmering differences between Pilot and Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot came out in the open.