DIMAPUR, May 8 - The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued notice to the Nagaland Assembly Speaker Vikho-o Yhoshu, two MLAs L Khumo and Imnatiba and ruling Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) on a special leave petition (SLP) filed by National People�s Party (NPP).
The NPP had filed the SLP seeking to set aside the order of the Speaker who accepted merger of the two MLAs elected on the symbol of NPP with NDPP.
The Supreme Court bench, comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Deepak Gupta, also issued notice on application for stay of the merger of two MLAs with the NDPP.
Advocate A Sharan and advocate Amit Kumar with advocate on record Avijit Mani Tripathi appeared for NPP while Mukul Rohatgi appeared for the respondents.
The Supreme Court, in its notice, said the issue involved in the SLP is of far reaching consequences in as much as more often than not two-third MLAs of original political party get merged with the other party and claim merger of legislative party. They set up the same as defence to disqualification, it said.
�In smaller States of India, the issue has become important as parties trying to cobble majority engineer defection in smaller parties by getting merged legislative party and claim merger of original political party,� the Supreme Court bench observed.
It is against the mandate of 10th Schedule of the Constitution, it said.
In a release on Wednesday, NPP�s Nagaland unit president Ato Yepthomi said the NPP filed the SLP before the Supreme Court challenging the Speaker�s March 20 order accepting the claim of merger of its MLAs L Khumo and Imnatiba with the NDPP.
The NPP argued that both the MLAs �incurred� disqualification by voluntarily giving up membership of NPP and merging themselves with NDPP. The SLP said their membership from the Assembly should be cancelled.
�Both MLAs should stand disqualified because they have incurred disqualification,� the party said.
It was also mentioned in the petition that the order of merger passed by the Speaker was ex-facie illegal and beyond his power under the 10th Schedule of the Constitution.
Saying that the object of 10th Schedule of the Constitution is to prevent defection in smaller States, but is being violated with impunity, the NPP said the issue should be decided expeditiously.
The case is likely to come up for hearing again in the first week of July, he said.
