Former MP Faizal questions non-withdrawal of his disqualification, SC agrees to hear

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has agreed to list for a hearing on March 28 the plea filed by NCP leader and former MP from Lakshadweep, Mohammed Faizal, who questioned the non-withdrawal of a disqualification notification that was released by the Lok Sabha Secretariat even after a lower court conviction was stayed by the Kerala High Court.

A bench comprising Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and justices P.S. Narasimha and J.B. Pardiwala took note of the submissions of senior advocate A.M. Singhvi, appearing for the former Lakshadweep parliamentarian, that the person has not been reinstated as an MP despite his conviction and sentence being stayed by the high court.

Singhvi said the appeal of the Union Territory against the high court order is coming up for hearing before another apex court bench on Tuesday. "Tag this with the SLP [of Lakshadweep]," said the bench.

Singhvi, appearing for the Nationalist Congress Party leader, said the Lok Sabha was "prompt to disqualify Faizal as an MP immediately after he was convicted and sentenced by a local court in January this year, but his membership has not been restored yet despite the high court staying the conviction".

Faizal stood disqualified from the membership of Lok Sabha from January 11, the date of his conviction in an attempt to murder case by a sessions court in Kavaratti, according to a notification issued on January 13 by the Lok Sabha Secretariat.

In his petition filed in the apex court through advocate K.R. Sasiprabhu, Faizal said the Lok Sabha Secretariat failed to withdraw the notification despite the fact that his conviction was stayed by the high court on January 25.

PTI input