HC directive to NLA Speaker on disqualification petition against NPF MLAs

Our Correspondent
Kohima, March 13 (EMN): The Gauhati High Court, Kohima Bench has directed the Speaker of Nagaland Legislative Assembly (NLA) to dispose of the application of the petitioners in connection with disqualification petition filed by the Naga People’s Front (NPF) against seven of its legislators on April 24, 2019.

It also directed to “issue notice to the respondents returnable within three weeks”, which is April 3.

Further, the court also stated that the “pendency of this writ petition shall not stand as a bar for the Speaker to decide the matter pending before him”.

This was announced at a press conference, conducted by the petitioner’s lawyer S Borgohain; NPF secretary general, Achumbemo Kikon; and MLA Chotisuh Sazo in Kohima on Friday. 

The NPF had filed disqualification petition against its seven MLAs ‘for indulging in anti-party activties’.

According to the petitioner’s lawyer, S Borgohain, the Speaker has been granted the liberty to adjudicate the disqualification petition, which are pending before him and ‘the disqualification matter has been listed on March 20 before the Assembly secretariat’.

“We will put up those things and inform the Speaker. We have already taken the steps as per the direction of this order,” he said, and hoped that “good sense will prevail”.

Borgohain said that ‘from the very first day (of filing the petition) till today, through numerous pretext or grounds, the Speaker has been delaying in adjudicating the disqualification petitions’. He accused the Speaker of being ‘reluctant to exercise his power in judicious manner’.

The NPF, he said, is not bothered about whether the Speaker allows the disqualification petition or not. “We (just) want him to decide,” the lawyer said. 

The party was prompted to move the matter to the High Court after the last order issued on February 18, 2020 by the NLA Speaker, according to the lawyer. In the order, the Speaker directed the petitioners (MLAs Chotisuh Sazo and Imkong L Imchen), and the seven NPF MLAs to appear on March 20, 2020 in the Assembly secretariat “for furnishing the issues for both the parties, so that he can decide”.

However, ‘the issues which the Speaker is asking for have already been provided long time back’, he said.

NPF secretary general, Achumbemo Kikon also said that ‘whether it (Speaker’s decision) is for or against us, we are not bothered but a decision should be taken’.

After the suspension of the seven MLAs, the party has endorsed the legislature wing of NPF (headed by TR Zeliang) to file the disqualification petition. But the “Speaker has delayed the matter for the past ten months which is beyond reasonable time”, he said.

Therefore, the legislature wing of the party had decided to seek the intervention of the high court. “The very fact that the high court has admitted the petition itself proves that the case is serious and it needs time-bound, immediate adjudication,” Kikon said.

Reacts to NDPP statement 

Reacting to the recent press statement from the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP), Kikon said that the NPF is “not looking for a reply from them”.

Instead, he asked the ruling government to “show to the people how they will execute. Give us the blueprint of how PDA is going to go ahead with the remaining years of the government.”

“Two years have lapsed without doing anything. The little thing they have done is from the funds that we brought during our (NPF) government…it is also not being judiciously executed. If we have this government, what do the people of Nagaland expect?” he queried. 

According to him, the first year of PDA rule in Nagaland had seen “a lot controversy” and the second year, “more controversy”.

‘We did not see any achievement; this government has no new plans. And in the budget which has been passed recently, only the liabilities have increased,’ Kikon added.

“People have started approaching the governor’s doorstep instead of seeking redress of their grievances from the government,” Kikon said, adding, “this is a very sad thing about this government.”

This, he claimed, shows that there is no semblance of governance in the state. ‘We don’t know if the governor is over-indulged, it is also not fair because there is a neglected popular government.’ he said.

Kikon went on to state that this scenario could ‘increase the frustration of the people, and there will be chaos and confusion in our society’. The NPF, he added, was taking this issue ‘seriously’.

Peace process: Credit goes to CSOs

On the progress of the Indo-Naga peace process, the NPF secretary general said that the larger chunk of the credit must go to the civil society leaders, human rights activists, church leaders, and student leaders.

“These are the organisations that have made the peace process progress this far,” he said.

He said that the government has started to pass the buck to the Joint Legislators’ Forum on Naga peace talks ‘saying that NPF MLAs are also part of it.

“What kind of answer is that?” Kikon asked.  According to him, it was solely up to the government of the day—not the JLF— to ensure that the peace process moves on smoothly.

Kikon claimed that the NPF is ‘committed when it comes to Indo-Naga peace process’ and it ‘doesn’t need to listen to the PDA government’.

Instead, he said, the present government should declare what kind of efforts it is making towards bringing the Naga people together.    

On the road sector, the Kikon claimed that the NPF had ‘brought all the schemes for the road when we were running the government’.

According to Kikon, the PDA government has ‘brought nothing so far’.

Also, the NPF secretary general informed that the party has started disseminating information on how to prevent infection from the novel coronavirus to the party functionaries as well as to the common people.