Gauhati HC stays derecognition of Debabrata Saikia as Leader of Opposition in Assam Assembly

The Gauhati High Court onTuesday put an interim stay on the Assam Assembly secretary'snotification withdrawing recognition to Congress leaderDebabrata Saikia as the Leader of the Opposition in the 126-member House.

After hearing a writ petition filed by Saikia, JusticeAchintya Malla Bujor Barua issued notices returnable withinfour weeks to the speaker, secretary and principal secretaryof the Assembly, and the chief secretary of the state.

Saikia had filed the petition challenging thenotification issued by the Assembly secretary on January 1,withdrawing his recognition as Leader of the Oppostion in theHouse.

Saikia lost the status as the present strength of theparty in the 126-member House is one less than the requirednumber of 21 MLAs, the official notification had said.

''The present strength of the Indian National CongressLegislature Party, Assam Legislative Assembly, is not equal tothe quorum fixed to constitute a sitting of the House that isone-sixth of the total number of Members of the House,'' thenotification issued had said.

While the BJP has 60 MLAs, the Congress now has20 lawmakers. Four other seats, which the Congress had won in2016 Assembly polls, are lying vacant.

Two of its members - former chief minister Tarun Gogoiand former speaker Pranab Gogoi - died, while Ajanta Neog andRajdeep Goala joined the BJP.

The petitioner contended through his lawyer that anMLA holding the position of Leader of the Opposition needs tofulfil two requirements under Rule 2(1)(p) of the Rules ofProcedure and Conduct of Business in Assam LegislativeAssembly and Section 2 of the Salary and Allowance of theLeader of the Opposition in the Assam Legislative AssemblyAct, 1978.

The petitioner's lawyer submitted before the courtthat under these two rules, one has to be the leader of thelargest recognised party, i.e. the party having the greatestnumerical strength in the opposition.

Secondly, the MLA concerned has to be recognised asthe leader of the largest recognised opposition party by thespeaker.

The petitioner claimed that both these requirementswere fulilled and since the notification under challenge didnot withdraw his recognition for non-fulfillment of theserequirements, he is still legally entitled to remain theLeader of the Opposition.