SC Notice To Rajya Sabha Secretariat Over AAP MP Raghav Chadha’s ‘Indefinite Suspension’

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to examine a plea filed by Aam Admi Party (AAP) leader Raghav Chadha, challenging his suspension from Rajya Sabha on August 11 during the monsoon session.

A bench comprising CJI DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala, and Justice Manoj Misra issued the notice to the Upper House secretariat and called for its response by October 30. It has also sought the Attorney General of India’s assistance in the matter.

Chadha was suspended on the last day of the Monsoon session for “gross violation of rules, misconduct, defiant attitude and contemptuous conduct” following accusations of not taking consent of five Rajya Sabha MPs before including their name to a select committee for considering the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2023. The suspension remains until the committee of privileges probing the case against him submits its report.

In the writ petition, the AAP leader has challenged the “indefinite suspension” as illegal and arbitrary. Senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi and lawyer Shadan Farasat, representing Chadha, argued that a member of the house cannot be suspended beyond a session, citing the Supreme Court’s judgment in Ashish Shelar v. State of Maharashtra (2022). Since there is no ‘privilege’ existing in respect of the incident and hence there cannot be a “breach of privilege, they added.