New Delhi: The Central government informed the Rajya Sabha on Thursday that there is no need to carry out any amendments to Anti Defection Law since the "provisions of the Tenth Schedule have stood the test of time and several judicial scrutinies".
"Tenth Schedule of the constitution provides for the prevention of defection of the elected/nominated members from their political party and contains stringent provisions for curbing the menace of switching over of legislators. A seven-member constitutional bench of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Kihoto Hollohon vs Zuchilhu has upheld the entire provisions of the Tenth Schedule of the constitution except para 7 relating to the justiciability of the decisions of Speaker/Chairperson of the legislatures," read the law ministry's statement. It also said that though the provisions have been examined by the courts there have been no specific directions for amendments.
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The Ministry of Law and Justice gave its response to a question raised by AAP Rajya Sabha MP, Narain Dass Gupta, who questioned whether Anti-Defection Law in its present form is adequate to stop induced defections.
It is to be noted that on 20th July, the Chief Justice of India, NV Ramana-led bench called for legal questions pertaining to the 10th schedule so that they can be referred to a larger constitutional bench. The order had come on the pleas filed by Eknath Shinde and Udhav Thackrey camps regarding disqualification proceedings, floor test, party whip, etc.
"Some of the issues, consequences of removal of para 3(of tenth schedule) and absence of split concept, whether a minority party leader has right to disqualify party leader, these are some of the issues," CJI had observed while asking the advocates to file all the legal issues so they can be decided.
