The Supreme Court will hear on Tuesday a fresh plea filed by two Independent Karnataka MLAs seeking the floor test “forthwith” in the State Assembly on the trust motion moved by Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy.
A Bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi on Monday declined to hear, during the day, the plea by R Shankar and H Nagesh.
“On mentioning, the matter is taken on board. List the matter tomorrow before the appropriate Bench as per the roster,” the Bench, also comprising Justices Deepak Gupta and Aniruddha Bose, said in its order.
At the outset, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the MLAs, said that he has filed a new petition in the Karnataka matter and it be heard either during the day or tomorrow on a urgent basis.
“The floor test is being delayed on one pretext or the other,” he said.
He said when the Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) coalition can take orders for holding of the floor test earlier, then the same order can be issued now.
The Bench, which also comprised Justices Deepak Gupta and Aniruddha Bose, said, “impossible (to list today). We have never done this before. Tomorrow we may see to it.”
The two MLAs, who withdrew support to the Congress-JD(S) government in Karnataka, moved the top court seeking a direction to the HD Kumaraswamy-led government for conducting a floor test in the State Assembly on or before 5 pm on Monday.
They said the State has plunged into a political crisis after they withdrew their support to the government and 16 lawmakers of the ruling coalition tendered their resignations.
“It is submitted that the trust vote is not being conducted despite the government being in minority. It is submitted that a minority government, which does not have the confidence of the majority, is being allowed to continue in office,” they said in their plea.