Even though Manipur High Court has disposed of the two separate cases filed by Congress MLAs against Horticulture & Forest Minister, Th. Shyamkumar Singh, seeking his disqualification without passing any order citing jurisdiction issue under the tenth schedule, it has however observed that continuation of the Congress turn-coat as a minister is illegal.

The judgment order was kept reserved since July 2 by the single bench of Justice Kh. Nobin Singh, after having several rounds of hearing since 2018. 

Shyamkumar who was elected to the 11th Manipur Legislative Assembly from the Andro Assembly Constituency on a Congress ticket was instrumental in the BJP outmaneuvering the Congress, the single largest party in the formation of the BJP led coalition government in Manipur in March 2017.

He extended his support to the BJP which won just 21 seats out of 60 and ditched his own party which bagged 28 seats missing the single majority, a requirement to form the government, by just three seats. Shyamkumar was subsequently sworn in as a Minister of BJP led Manipur Government. Since then the Congress party has been appealing to the Manipur Legislative Speaker as well as the Manipur High Court to disqualify the minister under the anti-defection law of the tenth schedule of the Indian constitution.

Justice Nobin Singh slammed the Manipur Legislative Assembly Speaker for not taking any decision in the 13 petitions case pending before the tribunal court of the Speaker for drawing up disqualification proceedings against Th. Shyamkumar.

The “Speaker has utterly failed to discharge his solemn duties. The Speakers appears to be concerned only with the power and function vested upon him by the provisions of the Tenth Schedule but he appears to have forgotten or ignored deliberately for certain reasons best known to him that he is required to discharge the duty enjoined upon him in the Tenth Schedule”, observed the single bench referring to the Jagit Singh versus State of Haryana (supra) case.

Further, the High Court Bench observed that continuation of Th. Shyamkumar as Minister is absolutely illegal as it being without any authority of law. The failure on the part of the Speaker to take a decision on the petition for disqualification within a reasonable time has led to the continuance of the illegality, which the bench observed, is likely to continue further, probably, till the end of the term of the Assembly.

Even as the bench was extremely critical of the Speaker’s role, it stopped short of passing an order to maintain judicial propriety by stating, “it may not be appropriate for this Court to pass any order for the time being, as regards the inaction or indecision on the part of the Speaker to take a decision and moreover, the judicial discipline and propriety demand that High Court shall refrain from issuing a writ petition of quo warrant to declaring the public office of the minister being held by the minister as illegal”, concluded the High Court citing an order passed by the Supreme Court.

Besides the turn-coat minister, seven other Congress MLAs had joined the BJP with the Speaker maintaining inaction over the Congress party petitions to disqualify them under the anti-defection law.