A full Bench of the Karnataka High Court on Tuesday issued notices to Assembly Speaker K G Bopaiah in a petition filed by five Independent MLAs who were disqualified from the Assembly on October 10 following a complaint by Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa under the anti-defection law. The five MLAs were considered to be part of the BJP by the Speaker while disqualifying them for withdrawal of their support to the Yeddyurappa government on October 6. The Bench also allowed the Chief Minister to be made a party in the case on the request of the Independent MLAs and ordered issuance of notice to him as well before posting the case for November 8. The five Independent MLAs have challenged the Speakers orders of October 10 on the grounds that they never became members of the BJP and that the Speaker had erred in disqualifying them from the Assembly on these grounds. The matter had originally come up before a division Bench of the High Court but was referred to a full Bench comprising Justices Mohan Shantagoudar,Abdul Nazeer and A S Bopanna. A division Bench,in an interim order on October 13 on a miscellaneous plea by the Independent MLAs,had allowed a trust vote in the Assembly to go on but had made its result subject to the outcome of the petitions filed against disqualification by the Independent MLAs.
