HC rules, a disqualified MLA cannot be appointed as Minister in State

On Monday, the High Court of Karnataka ruled that nominated legislative council member AH Vishwanath cannot be appointed as a Minister as his disqualification was still operative.

Vishwanath, Ex-President of the State unit of Janata Dal (S), who was an MLA from Hunsur, was one of the 17 ‘rebels’ from Congress & JDS who resigned from assembly membership & helped topple the JDS-Congress coalition Govt in 2019.

The then speaker Ramesh Kumar had disqualified him as well as other legislators. However, while all the other defectors got re-elected to the assembly on BJP tickets, 2 of them - MTB Nagaraj & Vishwanath were defeated. Another ‘defector’ R Shankar chose not to contest the by-poll.

While Nagaraj & Shankar were elected to the legislative council, Vishwanath was nominated under the ‘litterateur’ category by the Governor to the upper house on the recommendation of the State Govt as he is the author of a few books.

Hearing a bunch of PIL's, a division bench of the High Court of Karnataka headed by Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka & Justice Vishwajit Shetty ruled that “The Governor will take into consideration the disqualification incurred by Vishwanath, while the disqualification ceased to be operative in case of Nagaraj & Shankar as they were elected to the legislative council, if a recommendation is made by the Chief Minister to appoint them as ministers.”

While others have been accommodated with ministerial berths, Vishwanath, Shankar, Nagaraj & Munirathna who was recently elected in the recent bypolls have been waiting to be inducted into the cabinet. Chief minister Yediyurappa in turn is waiting for the party high command’s nod before expanding his cabinet. Karnataka can have a maximum of 34 ministers including the CM & currently there are seven vacancies.

The ruling by the HC means that Vishwanath’s often repeated ambition to be ‘recognized for the sacrifice made & rewarded with ministry’ may not fructify for the present. While Vishwanath wasn't reachable for comments, a BJP spokesperson said, “What is there for us to comment, it is a court ruling & everybody has to follow it.” 

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