Author: Rajeev PI
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: May 27, 2006
URL: http://www.indianexpress.com/story/5251.html
Introduction: Plea to stop 11 MLAs who entered
Assembly in name of Allah, petitioner says Hindu MLA who invoked Guru was
penalised
If a Hindu MLA cannot take the oath of office
in the name of a Guru, can Muslim MLAs take the oath of office in the name
of Allah and still remain MLAs? This is the gist of a writ petition before
the Kerala High Court filed by a BJP youth wing leader who wants the court
to declare as unconstitutional the swearing-in of 11 newly elected Muslim
MLAs who took the oath of office, three days ago, in the name of Allah.
The MLAs named in the petition belong to both
the Left and right camps. Petitioner Madhu Parumala, Kerala vice-president
of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, has asked the court to prevent the MLAs
from participating in Assembly business and deny them salary, perks and pension.
Pointing out that elected representatives
can take oath only in the name of God or make a solemn affirmation in consonance
with Article 188 of the Constitution, Parumala has cited the case of Umesh
Challiyil, an MLA of the last state Assembly who chose to take oath in the
name of Sree Narayana Guru, a hugely popular Kerala religious reformer and
philosopher-guru venerated in particular by the backward Ezhava community.
A PIL questioning the constitutional validity
of Umesh's oath was upheld by a division bench of the Kerala HC which ordered
that he was ineligible to sit and vote in the Assembly until he was sworn
in afresh in the prescribed way.
The court had also ordered Umesh to pay a
penalty at the rate of Rs 500 for each day that he sat and voted in the Assembly.
Though the MLA appealed, the SC refused to stay the HC order. Umesh, eventually,
had to cough up over Rs 41,000 as penalty last month. In his petition, Parumala
wants these 11 also to be fined at the same rate.
- rajeev.pi@expressindia.com
