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The Supreme Court on Tuesday set aside the decision of the Bihar Legislative Council to expel Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MLC Sunil Kumar Singh over his alleged defamatory remarks against Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh held that the punishment awarded to Singh was highly excessive and disproportionate to the nature of his misconduct. Thus, the Court directed that Singh be immediately reinstated as a member of the Bihar Legislative Council. In July 2024, the RJD MLC was expelled by the legislative council Secretariat after he allegedly made certain defamatory remarks against the Chief Minister. The alleged remarks were made during the Bihar Governor's address at the legislative council in February 2024, following the formation of a new alliance government between the JDU (Janata Dal-United) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the State. Singh had, along with another MLC Mh. Sohaib allegedly hurled indecent slogans such as "Paltu Ram" (a Hindi term for someone who changes or switches aides or loyalties) against CM Nitish Kumar. Following this, the legislative council chairman lodged a complaint against the two MLCs, which was forwarded to the Ethics Committee. As per the recommendations of the Ethics Committee, the legislative council Secretariat expelled Singh. Today, however, the court quashed Singh's expulsion and ordered his immediate reinstatement, though it found Singh's actions to be abhorrent and unbecoming of a member of the Legislature. "We hold that the punishment meted out to the Petitioner was excessive and disproportionate to the nature of the offence he committed", the Court said in its judgment. Regarding one of the issues raised in the case, which concerned whether courts can intervene in the procedural regulations of the state's upper House, the Court stated that there is no absolute bar preventing Constitutional Courts from examining the proportionality of the punishment imposed on a member when reviewing the validity of actions taken by the House. The Court also quashed a press note issued by the Election Commission that declared bye-elections to be held for the occupation of the seat held earlier by Singh. Senior advocates Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Gopal Sankarnarayanan appeared for Sunil Kumar Singh while senior advocate Ranjit Kumar represented the Bihar Legislative Council and others. (ANI)
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