The Supreme Court has suspended Telangana MLCs M Kodandaram and Amer Ali Khan, ruling their induction under the Governor’s quota invalid. The Court said, “The action… on the strength of the interim order was misplaced.”
New Delhi: On August 19, the Supreme Court has suspended the memberships of M Kodandaram and Amer Ali Khan, who had recently taken oath as Members of the Legislative Council (MLCs) in Telangana under the Governor’s quota.
The Court said their induction was not valid and made it clear that any new appointments to these posts must be done only through fresh recommendations by the State Cabinet.
A Bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta passed the order while hearing appeals in a long political dispute over Governor’s quota nominations.
The controversy first started in September 2023. At that time, then Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan rejected the Telangana Cabinet’s recommendation to nominate Dr Dasoju Sravan Kumar and Kurra Satyanarayana as MLCs.
Later, after the change of government, the new Cabinet led by Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy in January 2024 recommended the names of Prof. M Kodandaram and journalist Amer Ali Khan. This time, the new Governor Jishnudev Varma approved the proposal and both were nominated.
Both sets of decisions were challenged in the Telangana High Court. In March 2024, the High Court ruled against the Governor’s rejection as well as against the later nominations of Kodandaram and Khan.
However, the High Court also said it would not direct the Governor to implement the earlier Cabinet’s decision in favour of Sravan Kumar and Satyanarayana, because those two had themselves limited their legal petition to a declaration of law and did not ask for actual appointments.
Unhappy with this outcome, Sravan Kumar and Satyanarayana appealed before the Supreme Court. In August 2024, the Supreme Court stayed the High Court’s judgment and ordered that any new nominations made in the meantime would depend on the final result of the appeals.
Soon after this order, Kodandaram and Khan were sworn in as MLCs, with the State government claiming that the Supreme Court’s stay order had revived their nominations.
ALSO READ: Supreme Court Quashes Appointment of 2 MLCs Under Governor’s Quota in Telangana
The Supreme Court disagreed with this interpretation and clarified that its earlier order was not meant to benefit persons whose nominations had already been quashed by the High Court.
The Court clearly stated:
“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.”
Rejecting the argument that the Court could not change its earlier order since applications for modification had been dismissed, the Bench said that it was free to correct the record if its order was being wrongly interpreted.
The judges explained:
“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 Supreme Court directed that
“the functioning of the two MLCs be forthwith suspended and kept in abeyance.”
The Court clarified that the State Cabinet was still free to send fresh recommendations for the two vacant posts, and the Governor would then take a decision as per law.
The Court also allowed the Cabinet to consider once again the earlier names of Sravan Kumar and Satyanarayana, or the later names of Kodandaram and Khan, but only by following a fresh process.
However, it made clear that any new nominations made during this period would remain provisional and subject to the final decision of the appeals.
Importantly, the judges also clarified that the work already done by Kodandaram and Khan as MLCs would not be struck down. They said that the Court’s present order will not affect or invalidate any of their past official actions.
The Supreme Court has listed the matter for further hearing after September 17.
On the legal side, the appellants were represented by Senior Advocates Ranjit Kumar and Aditya Sondhi, assisted by 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.
Case Title:
Dr. Dosaju Sravan Kumar v. The Governor, State of Telangana & Ors
Read Order:
Click Here to Read More Reports On MLC
