Supreme Court suspends two Telangana MLCs sworn in under Governor’s quota

The Supreme Court recently suspended the memberships of M Kondaram and Amer Ali Khan, who had been sworn in as Members of the Legislative Council (MLCs) in Telangana under the Governor’s quota [Dr. Dosaju Sravan Kumar v. The Governor, State of Telangana & Ors]..A Bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta made it clear that their induction was not valid and that any future entry to the seats would have to be made through fresh recommendations by the State Cabinet..The Court was hearing appeals arising from a political dispute over nominations to the Governor’s quota seats. The controversy began in September 2023, when then Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan rejected the State Cabinet’s recommendation to nominate two persons - Dr Dasoju Sravan Kumar and Kurra Satyanarayana - to the Legislative Council.After a change of government, the Cabinet headed by Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy recommended the names of Prof M Kodandaram and journalist Amer Ali Khan in January 2024. The new Governor, Jishnudev Varma, approved their nominations..Both decisions were challenged in the Telangana High Court. In March 2024, the High Court quashed the Governor’s rejection as well as the subsequent nominations. However, the High Court declined to direct the Governor to implement the earlier Cabinet decision in favour of Sravan Kumar and Satyanarayana, noting that they themselves had limited their plea to a declaration of law rather than seeking actual appointments..Sravan Kumar and Satyanarayana then moved the Supreme Court. In August 2024, the Supreme Court stayed the High Court’s judgment, ordering that any new nominations in the meantime would be subject to the final outcome of the case. Days later, Kodandaram and Khan were sworn in as MLCs, with State authorities treating the Supreme Court’s stay as reviving their nominations.The Supreme Court ruled that this interpretation was incorrect. It said that its interim order was meant to preserve the rights of the appellants and not to benefit persons whose nominations had already been quashed by the High Court.“The action on the part of respondents in proceeding to administer oath to respondent nos. 4 and 5 on the strength of the interim order was misplaced,” the order stated.The Court rejected the argument that it could not now alter its order since earlier applications for modification had been dismissed. It explained that once it came to the Court’s notice that its order had been misinterpreted and misused, it was open to correct the position..Accordingly, the Bench directed that the functioning of the two MLCs be “forthwith suspended and kept in abeyance.” It clarified that the State Cabinet remained free to make fresh recommendations for the two posts, and the Governor could decide on such recommendations in accordance with law.The Court also said that the Cabinet was free to reconsider the names of either the original nominees (Sravan Kumar and Satyanarayana), or of Kodandaram and Khan, but only through a fresh process. Any new nominations made will remain provisional, pending the final outcome of the appeals. Importantly, the Court also clarified that any functions already discharged by Kodandaram and Khan as MLCs will not be invalidated by the present order..The matter will now be heard after September 17..The appellants were represented by Senior Advocates Ranjit Kumar and Aditya Sondhi along with Advocates Eesha Bakshi, Omar Hoda, B Vittal, Gurbani Bhatia, Surya K Singh, Abishek Jebaraj and Arjun Sharma.The respondents were represented by Attorney General of India R Venkataramani and Senior Advocate K Ramakanth Reddy along with Advocates Krishna Kumar Singh, Jatinder Bir Singh, D Mahesh Babu, Shishir Pinaki, Dhanaeswar Gudapalli, Devina Sehgal, Srikanth Varma Mudunuru, D Ramakrishna Reddy, D Bharathi Reddy, Nishant Sharma, D Tejaswi Reddy, Adviteeya, Goli Rama Krishna, Vandana Sharma and Karishma Seth..[Read Order]