HC dismisses petition seeking to vacate stay on derecognition of Saikia as Leader of Oppn

Five other seats that theopposition party had won in 2016 are lying vacant followingresignations and deaths.At present, there are 119 members in the House.

The Gauhati High Court onWednesday dismissed a petition seeking vacation of the stayorder on the Assam assembly secretarys notificationwithdrawing recognition to Congress leader Debabrata Saikia asthe Leader of the Opposition in the House.

According to a notification issued on January 1,Saikia lost that status as the present strength of theCongress in the 126-member House is one less than the requirednumber of 21 MLAs.

Saikia moved the high court challenging thenotification and the single bench of Justice Achintya MallaBujor Barua on January 12 put an interim stay on it. Theassembly secretariat then filed a petition in a division benchseeking to vacate the stay order.

After hearing the petition, the division benchcomprising Chief Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia and Justice SumanShyam dismissed it and asked the petitioner to approach thesingle judge bench.

On January 12, the single bench of Justice Barua hadissued notices to the speaker, secretary and principalsecretary of the assembly, and the chief secretary of thestate, and stayed the derecognition of Saikia as an interimmeasure.

The matter has been fixed for hearing on January 29.

The recognition of Leader of the Opposition, given toSaikia on June 4, 2016, was withdrawn on the ground that thecurrent strength of the Congress is not one-sixth of the totalnumber of members of the House.

In the Assam assembly, the BJP has 60 MLAs, while theCongress has 19 at present. Five other seats that theopposition party had won in 2016 are lying vacant followingresignations and deaths.

At present, there are 119 members in the House. Theelections are likely to be held in March-April this year.