Lok Prahari Through Its General Secretary S. N. Shukla, Ias (Retd. ) Advocate vs. Union Of India

COURT NO.14

SECTION PIL-W

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS

<pre>Writ Petition(s)(Civil) No(s). 699/2016</pre>

ASHWINI KUMAR UPADHYAY

Petitioner(s)

Respondent(s)

VERSUS

UNION OF INDIA & ANR.

		IA NO. 142097/2022 - APPLICATION FOR PERMISSION
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		IA No. 81286/2018 - INTERVENTION APPLICATION
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		IA No. 58124/2017 - INTERVENTION/IMPLEADMENT
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Signature Not Venico.		57812/2017 - INTERVENTION/IMPLEADMENT
Digital signed<br>JATINIER KUNO.<br>Date: 2025.02.11		127023/2018 - INTERVENTION/IMPLEADMENT
$\mathbf{Res}^{\mathsf{18:11:1S}}_{\mathsf{Reason}}$		108742/2021 -<br><b>INTERVENTION/IMPLEADMENT</b>
	IA No.	55243/2022 - INTERVENTION/IMPLEADMENT
	IA No.	<b>INTERVENTION/IMPLEADMENT</b><br>156559/2022 -
		<b>INTERVENTION/IMPLEADMENT</b><br>IA No. 127553/2020 -
IA IA	No.	7992/2022 -<br><b>INTERVENTION/IMPLEADMENT</b>

IA No. 156545/2022 - INTERVENTION/IMPLEADMENT IA No. 2085/2019 - PERMISSION TO APPEAR AND ARGUE IN PERSON IA No. 98425/2019 - PERMISSION TO FILE ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTS/FACTS/ ANNEXURES IA No. 72938/2019 - PERMISSION TO FILE ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTS/FACTS/ ANNEXURES IA No. 130542/2018 - STAY APPLICATION IA No. 22794 of 2025 – FOR CLARIFICATION Date : 10-02-2025 This matter was called on for hearing today. CORAM : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE DIPANKAR DATTA HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE MANMOHAN For Petitioner(s) :Mr. Vikas Singh, Sr. Adv. Mr. Gopal Shankarnarayanan, Sr. Adv. Mr. Ashwani Kumar Dubey, AOR Mr. Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, Adv. For Respondent(s) :Mr. Pranav Sachdeva, AOR Mr. Jatin Bhardwaj, Adv. Mr. Abhay Nair, Adv. Mr. Rohit Ram, Adv. Mr. Balaji Srinivasan, AOR Mr. Tushar Mehta, Solicitor General Mr. K M Nataraj, A.S.G. Ms. Sonia Mathur, Sr. Adv. Mr. V Mohana, Adv. Mr. K Parmeshwar, Adv. Mr. Mohd Akhil, Adv. Mrs. Rajat Nair, Adv. Mr. Apoorv Kurup, Adv. Mr. Arvind Kumar Sharma, AOR Mr. Sahil Tagotra, AOR Mr. Sidhant Kumar, Adv. Ms. Manyaa Chandok, Adv. Mr. Sujay Jain, Adv. Mr. Shiv Ram Sharma, AOR Ms. K. Enatoli Sema, AOR Ms. Limayinla Jamir, Adv. Mr. Amit Kumar Singh, Adv. Ms. Chubalemla Chang, Adv. Mr. Prang Newmai, Adv. Ms. Aswathi M.K., AOR Ms. Jesal Wahi, AOR

2

Mr. Vikramjit Banerjee, A.S.G. Mr. K.V. Sreemuthin, Adv. Ms. Priyadarshini Priya, Adv. Mr. Saransh Kumar, Adv. Mr. Vishnu Jain, Adv. Mr. Shreekant Neelappa Terdal, AOR Mr. Karan Sharma, AOR Ms. G. Indira, AOR Mr. P. S. Sudheer, AOR Mr. Shovan Mishra, AOR Ms. Bipasa Tripathy, Adv. Mr. Ravindra S. Garia, AOR Mr. Shuvodeep Roy, AOR Mr. Deepayan Dutta, Adv. Mr. Saurabh Tripathi, Adv. Mr. Anupam Raina, AOR Mr. Ankur Parihar, Adv. Ms. Osheen Bhat, Adv. Mr. Mahesh Agarwal, Adv. Mr. Nishant Rao, Adv. Mr. E. C. Agrawala, AOR Mr. Anand Dilip Landge, Adv. Mr. Siddharth Dharmadhikari, Adv. Mr. Aaditya Aniruddha Pande, AOR Mr. Sunil Kumar Jain, AOR Ms. Rashika Swarup, Adv. Mr. Naman Jain, Adv. Mr. Anil Shrivastav, AOR Mr. Viraz Shastri, Adv. Mr. Hitesh Kumar Sharma, Adv. Mr. Amit Kumar Chawla, Adv. Mr. Varun Varma, Adv. Mr. Akhileshwar Jha, Adv. Ms. Charanjeet Sighu, Adv. Mr. Ajay Mishra, Adv. Mr. Apoorv Kurup, AOR Mr. Sanjai Kumar Pathak, AOR Mrs. Shashi Pathak, Adv. Mr. Arvind Kumar Tripathi, Adv.

Mr. Somanadri Goud Katam, AOR Mr. Sirajuddin, Adv. Mr. Ambhoj Kumar Sinha, AOR Mr. Saurabh Bharadwaj, Adv. Ms. Sushmita Barman, Adv. Intervenor-in-person, AOR Mr. B.k. Satija, A.A.G. Mr. Samar Vijay Singh, AOR Mr. Keshav Mittal, Adv. Ms. Sabarni Som, Adv. Mr. Aman Dev Sharma, Adv. Mr. Anurag Kulharia, Adv. Mr. Ratipal Singh Tanwar, Adv. Mr. Sameer Mehndiratta, Adv. Mr. Gyaneshwar Kumar Maheshwari, Adv. Mr. Ramesh Babu M. R., AOR Mr. Arjun Garg, AOR Ms. Kriti Gupta, Adv. Mr. Avinash Tripathi, Adv. M/S. Gorkela Law Office, AOR Mr. Abhishek Atrey, AOR Dr. Abhishek Atrey, Adv. Mr. Ravindra Lokhande, Adv. Ms. Vidyottma Jha, Adv. Ms. Astha Sharma, AOR Mr. Jayant Mohan, AOR Ms. Adya Shree Dutta, Adv. Ms. Radhika Gautam, AOR Mr. Naresh K. Sharma, AOR Mr. Aravindh S., AOR Mr. Akshay Gupta, Adv. Mr. Aadithya Aravindh, Adv. Mr. Ajay Pal, AOR Mr. Biswajit Deb, Sr. Adv. Mr. Anando Mukherjee, AOR Mr. Shwetank Singh, Adv. Mr. Sunny Choudhary, AOR

Mr. Ranjan Mukherjee, AOR Mr. Abhimanue Shrestha, AOR Ms. Sridevi Panikkar, Adv. Mr. Pritesh Patni, Adv. Mr. Anandh Kannan N., AOR Ms. Swati Ghildiyal, AOR Ms. Devyani Bhatt, Adv. Ms. Sneha Menon, Adv. Mr. Kabir Dixit, AOR Mrs. Anil Katiyar, AOR Mr. Shantanu Sagar, AOR Mr. Anil Kumar, Adv. Mr. Gunjesh Ranjan, Adv. Mrs. Divya Mishra, Adv. Mr. Ashish K Singh, Adv. Mr. Keshav Khandelwal, Adv. Mr. Gaurav Agrawal, AOR Mr. Ahanthem Henry, Adv. Mr. Ahanthem Rohen Singh, Adv. Mr. Mohan Singh, Adv. Mr. Aniket Rajput, Adv. Ms. Khoisnam Nirmala Devi, Adv. Mr. Kumar Mihir, AOR Mr. Karan Bharihoke, AOR Mr. Chirag M. Shroff, AOR Mr. Nishe Rajen Shonker, AOR Ms. Anu K Joy, Adv. Mr. Alim Anvar, Adv. Mr. Santhosh K, Adv. Mr. Parth Awasthi, Adv. Mr. Pashupathi Nath Razdan, AOR Mr. Sanjay Kumar Tyagi, AOR Mr. Pukhrambam Ramesh Kumar, AOR Mr. Karun Sharma, Adv. Ms. Anupama Ngangom, Adv. Ms. Rajkumari Divyasana, Adv. Mr. Rajeev Kumar Dubey, Adv. Mr. Saurabh Singh Chauhan, Adv.

Mr. Ashiwan Mishra, Adv. Mr. Kamlendra Mishra, AOR Mr. Raghvendra Kumar, AOR Mr. Amit Sharma, AOR Mr. Dipesh Sinha, Adv. Ms. Pallavi Barua, Adv. Ms. Aparna Singh, Adv. Mr. Anirudh Singh, Adv. Mr. Kunal Chatterji, AOR Ms. Maitrayee Banerjee, Adv. Mr. Rohit Bansal, Adv. Ms. Mrinalini Mukherjee, Adv. Mr. Debanjan Mandal, Adv. Mr. Kunal Nimani, AOR Mr. Abhinav Rana, Adv. M/S. Arputham Aruna And Co, AOR Mr. Sandeep Kumar Jha, AOR Mr. Shiv Mangal Sharma, A.A.G. Ms. Nidhi Jaswal, Adv. Mr. Saurabh Rajpal, Adv. Mr. Baldev Singh, Adv. Mr. Divyansh Thakur, Adv. Mr. Rajeev Kumar Gupta, Adv. Mr. Rishabh Kumar Singh, Adv. Mr. Mukesh Kumar Sharma, Adv. Mr. Abhimanyu Singh, Adv. Mr. Vishal Bainsla, Adv. Mr. Bimlesh Kumar Singh, AOR Mr. Apoorv Kurup, Sr. Adv. Ms. Nidhi Mittal, AOR Mr. P. V. Yogeswaran, AOR Mr. Mahesh Thakur, AOR Ms. K. V. Bharathi Upadhyaya, AOR Mr. Siddhesh Shirish Kotwal, AOR Ms. Asmita Singh, AOR Mr. Abheet Mangleek, Adv. Mr. Tushar Nair, Adv. Mr. Anirudh, Adv. Mr. Punishk Handa, Adv.

Mr. Anandh Kannan N., AOR

Mr. Satish Pandey, AOR Ms. Jay Jaimini Pandey, Adv. Ms. Lalita Gupta, Adv. Mr. Rahul Kumar, Adv. Mr. Vijey Nand Tripathi, Adv. Mr. Prabhoo Dayal Tiwari, Adv. Mr. Abhinav Yesh Pandey, Adv. Mr. Braj Kishore Mishra, Adv. Mr. Malak Manish Bhatt, AOR Ms. Enakshi Mukhopadhyay Siddhanta, AOR Mr. Ravi Kumar S, Adv. Mr. P.S. Sridhar Raj, Adv. Mr. Kanhaiya Singhal, AOR Mr. Kanhaiya Singhal, Adv. Mr. Prasanna, Adv. Mr. Ajay Kumar, Adv. Mr. Vijay Hansaria, Sr. Adv. Ms. Sneha Kalita, AOR Ms. Kavya Jhawar, Adv. Ms. Nandini Rai, Adv. Mr. Ashok Mathur, AOR Mr. Sandeep Sudhakar Deshmukh, AOR Mr. Nishant Sharma, Adv. Mr. Ankur S. Savadikar, Adv. Mr. Viraj M. Parakh, Adv. Mr. Santosh Krishnan, AOR Mr. E. C. Vidya Sagar, AOR Mr. P.N.ravindran, Sr. Adv. Mr. T. G. Narayanan Nair, AOR Ms. Samyuktha H Nair, Adv. M/S. Plr Chambers And Co., AOR Mr. Sameer Abhyankar, AOR Mr. Rahul Kumar, Adv. Mr. Aryan Srivastava, Adv. Mr. Aakash Thakur, Adv. Mr. Krishna Rustogi, Adv. Mr. Amit Anand Tiwari, A.A.G. Mr. Sabarish Subramanian, AOR Ms. Devyani Gupta, Adv. Mr. Vishnu Unnikrishnan, Adv. Mr. Danish Saifi, Adv.

Ms. Tanvi Anand, Adv. Mr. Avdhesh K. Singh, A.A.G. Mrs. Prerna Dhall, Adv. Ms. Karishma Rajput, Adv. Ms. Akansha Singh, Adv. Mr. Gopinadh M N, Adv. Mr. Shivam Ganeshia, Adv. Mr. Prashant Singh, AOR Ms. Prerna Singh, Adv. Mr. Guntur Pramod Kumar, AOR Mr. Dhruv Yadav, Adv. Mr. Azmat H. Amanullah, AOR Ms. Rebecca Mishra, Adv. Ms. Ekta Kundu, Adv.

UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following O R D E R

1. The amended prayers in Writ Petition (Civil) No. 699 of 2016 are:

"a. direct and declare the words "and shall continue to be disqualified for a further period of six years since his release" be severed from sections 8(1)(ii), 8(2) and 8(3) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 and the words "for a period of five years from the date of such dismissal" be severed from section 9(1) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 as invalid and ultra-vires the Article 14 and basic structure of the Constitution of India;

b. direct the Respondent-1 to take appropriate steps to setup Special Courts to decide the cases related to people representative and public servants within one year and implement the important electoral reforms, proposed by the National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution, Law Commission of India in its 244th and 255th Report and Election Commission of India;

c. direct the Respondents to take appropriate steps to debar the person convicted for the offences specified in sections 8(1), 8(2), 8(3), 9(1) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 from contesting MLA/MP election, forming political party or becoming office bearer of political party."

2. We note that the challenge to the vires of part of Section 9 of the

Representation of People Act, 19511 was not part of the original prayer and has been incorporated by an amendment.

3. Insofar as prayer "b" is concerned, it has been brought to our notice that this Court (cor. Hon'ble Dr. D.Y. Chandrachud, CJI., Hon'ble P.S. Narasimha and Hon'ble Manoj Misra, JJ.) vide judgment and order dated November 9, 2023 [since reported in (2024) 1 SCC 185] has dealt with such prayer. While making several directions contained in paragraphs 21.1 to 21.7 therein, the said Bench concluded as follows:

"22. With these directions, we dispose of this writ petition with respect to the first prayer concerning the expeditious disposal of criminal cases against elected Members of Parliament and Legislative Assemblies.

23. This writ petition will now be listed for hearing on the other issue relating to the constitutional validity of Section 8 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951. We also place on record our appreciation for the efforts taken by the learned Amicus Curiae."

4. In view of disposal of the writ petition (we read it as disposal of prayer "b") with regard to expeditious disposal of criminal cases against the elected Members of Parliament and the Legislative Assemblies, as recorded in paragraph 22, we, sitting in a combination of two Judges, find it inappropriate to reopen the issue upon appreciation of the submissions advanced by learned Amicus Curiae Mr. Hansaria that not much progress has been achieved in terms of the directions in paragraph 21.1 to 21.7 thereof and while on the one hand the pending cases are not being disposed of, there has been addition of new cases which, having regard to the present institutional framework, the special courts dealing with cases of MPs/MLAs is unable to tackle.

<span id="page-8-0"></span>5. However, this issue of reopening the matter concerning prayer "b" having

regard to concerns of propriety ought to be considered by a Bench having combination of three Judges. For the present, we consider it appropriate to refer the matter to the Hon'ble the Chief Justice of India for constitution of an appropriate Bench.

6. However, the issue relating to Constitutional validity of parts of Section 8 of the RoP Act (referred to in paragraph 23) and also Section 9 thereof, which form part of the amended prayers, does survive for consideration and we propose to fix an appropriate schedule for deciding such issue. Be it recorded that submissions in relation to prayer "c" would be heard later, if at all considered necessary.

7. We have been informed by Mr. Vikas Singh, learned senior counsel appearing for the petitioner that although counter affidavit to the writ petition was invited from the Union of India2 , no such affidavit has been filed despite lapse of more than four years.

8. Ms. Sonia Mathur, learned senior counsel appears for the UoI. As prayed by her, we grant the UoI three weeks' time to file its counter affidavit. Learned counsel for Election Commission of India3 (respondent no.2) also seeks and is granted similar time of three weeks to file its counter affidavit.

9. Once the counter affidavits are filed, we would consider granting some time to the petitioner to file his rejoinder affidavit; if no such rejoinder affidavit is sought to be filed, we shall proceed with the hearing of the Constitutional issue(s) on such date(s) as may be fixed.

10. Relist the writ petition on 4 th March, 2025 to ascertain whether counter affidavit(s) has/have been filed by the UoI and the ECI. We make it clear that if no counter affidavit(s) is/are filed, hearing will commence without such counter

<span id="page-9-0"></span>² UoI

<span id="page-9-1"></span>³ ECI

affidavit(s).

11. Since Constitutional validity of parts of Sections 8 and 9 of the RoP Act is involved, we desire the Attorney General for India to address us. A copy of this order may be sent to the office of the Attorney General for India by the Registry.

IA No. 22794 of 2025:

12. IA No. 22794 of 2025, in W.P. (C) No.699 of 2016, is an application by the Registrar General, High Court of Delhi seeking the following relief:

"a. Clarify that the High Court may authorise that trial of MPs/MLAs (including Ex-MPs/MLAs) who are facing trial of the scheduled offences as prescribed in the Special Acts like NIA Act by the Special Court designated/constituted under Section 11 of the NIA Act instead of by the Special Courts created for the trial of MPs/MLAs and thereby enabling the High Court to issue necessary notification/office order in this regard."

13. The facts and circumstances triggering this application have been narrated in paragraph 7 of the application and its several sub-paragraphs. The concern expressed by the Registrar General has then been averred in paragraphs 8 to 11 thereof.

14. Since trial against the relevant Member of Parliament had commenced even before his election and as on date 21 witnesses have been examined by the prosecution before the Special Court constituted under the National Investigation Agency (Amendment) Act, 2019, in the special facts and circumstances that have been projected before us, we grant clarification as prayed by the Registrar General. There shall be an order in terms of prayer (a) of the application.

15. IA No. 22794 of 2025 stands disposed of.