The Kerala High Court dismissed a PIL seeking directions to drop Ethics Committee proceedings against expelled Congress MLA Rahul Mamkootathil. The Court ruled that it cannot issue directions to the Speaker regarding how Assembly proceedings should be conducted.
The Kerala High Court on Thursday dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) that had sought directions to the State Legislative Assembly to consider a representation requesting withdrawal of further proceedings against expelled Congress MLA Rahul Mamkootathil before the House Ethics Committee.
A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Soumen Sen and Justice Syam Kumar V M held that such a plea cannot be entertained by the court because judicial directions cannot be issued to the Speaker regarding the internal functioning of the Legislative Assembly.
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The Court made it clear that matters relating to the conduct of proceedings within the House fall under the legislative domain and are outside the scope of judicial interference. The detailed order in the case is yet to be released.
The petition was filed by advocate Kulathoor Jaisingh, who had approached the High Court seeking intervention in the proceedings initiated against Mamkootathil before the Ethics Committee of the Kerala Legislative Assembly. The petitioner argued that the complaint against the MLA was politically motivated and should not have been forwarded for inquiry.
According to the petition, Murali had filed a complaint before the Speaker of the Kerala Legislative Assembly alleging that Mamkootathil had engaged in conduct unbecoming of a Member of the Legislative Assembly. Murali had also sought permission to raise the issue before the Assembly.
The petition, filed through advocate M R Sarin, contended that the complaint was politically motivated and was filed with
“malafide intention due to political reasons”.
It further alleged that the Speaker referred the complaint to the Ethics Committee without properly examining the allegations mentioned in the complaint.
The petition stated,
“The Speaker of Kerala Legislative Assembly, without considering allegation in the complaint, has forwarded the same to the ethics committee with an endorsement to examine it.”
The petitioner also informed the court that he had earlier submitted a formal representation to the Speaker requesting that the proceedings against Mamkootathil be dropped. Mamkootathil is the MLA representing the Palakkad Assembly constituency.
According to the plea, even after submitting the representation, no action was taken by the Speaker. The petitioner further stated that a reminder representation was also sent seeking reconsideration of the issue, but there was still no response from the Speaker’s office.
Due to the lack of response, the petitioner approached the High Court and requested directions to the Ethics Committee to examine his representation and drop the proceedings against the MLA.
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However, the High Court declined to entertain the petition, observing that courts cannot interfere in the internal affairs and procedures of a legislative body. The bench therefore dismissed the PIL as not maintainable.
Meanwhile, Rahul Mamkootathil is currently facing investigation in three separate sexual assault cases filed by three different women. He has been granted bail in all three cases while the investigations continue.
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