New Delhi: The Supreme Court agreed to list tomorrow a fresh petition filed by former Lakshadweep MP Mohammed Faizal against the Lok Sabha Secretariat for not withdrawing a notification disqualifying him as an MP upon his conviction and 10-year sentence that was later stayed by the Kerala High Court, reported news agency PTI.
Senior advocate A M Singhvi appeared for the Nationalist Congress Party leader and informed the bench, comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and justices P S Narasimha and J B Pardiwala, that Faizal has not been reinstated as an MP despite his conviction and sentence being stayed by the high court.
Singhvi said the appeal of the Union Territory against the high court order is coming up for hearing before another apex court bench on Tuesday. ''Tag this with the SLP (of Lakshadweep),'' said the bench, according to PTI.
Singhvi said the Lok Sabha was ''prompt to disqualify Faizal as an MP immediately after he was convicted and sentenced by a local court in January this year, but his membership has not been restored yet despite the high court staying the conviction''.
According to a notification issued on January 13 by the Lok Sabha Secretariat, Faizal was disqualified from Lok Sabha membership as of January 11, the date of his conviction in an attempt to murder case by a sessions court in Kavaratti.
Faizal filed a petition in the Supreme Court through his advocate K R Sasiprabhu, claiming that despite the high court staying his conviction on January 25, the Lok Sabha Secretariat did not withdraw the notification.
"The petitioner is constrained to invoke the extraordinary jurisdiction of this court under Article 32 of the Constitution of India, against the unlawful inaction on the part of the respondent, Secretary General of the Lok Sabha Secretariat in not withdrawing the notification dated January 13, 2023, whereby the petitioner was disqualified from his membership of Parliament from the Lakshadweep parliamentary constituency," the plea said.
(With PTI inputs)