Rajasthan MLAs’ mass resignation case: HC notice to former minister Shanti Dhariwal, others seeking reply

JAIPUR: Rajasthan High Court on Monday issued notices to six former and current MLAs, including former minister Shanti Dhariwal, seeking their reply in the case of mass resignations by 81 MLAs, mostly of Congress, in Sept 2022.

The resignations were submitted when a Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting was ordered in Jaipur by the party's central leadership, purportedly to promote Sachin Pilot to the position of chief minister, replacing Ashok Gehlot. The scheduled CLP meeting on Sept 25, 2022, failed to materialise as Congress MLAs skipped it and instead gathered at then cabinet minister Dhariwal's residence. Their resignations were then submitted to the then assembly speaker CP Joshi at his residence the same night.

Former deputy leader of opposition Rajendra Rathore later moved a PIL before the high court seeking instructions to the speaker to clarify if these resignations were accepted or not. Rathore also sought to have the 81 MLAs' previous tenure positions declared as vacant from Sept 25, 2022, and order recovery of Rs 17.32 crore utilised for their salaries and allowances.

A division bench comprising chief justice MM Shrivastava and justice Uma Shankar Vyas on Monday directed MLAs Rafeek Khan and Shanti Dhariwal and former MLAs Mahesh Joshi, Ramlal Jat, Mahendra Chaudhary and Sanyam Lodha (independent) to reply within two weeks.

Rathore, who is a registered lawyer also, himself argued the case before the division bench. "Initially, it was claimed that these resignations were given voluntarily by the MLAs. On Jan 16, 2023, the assembly secretary submitted a reply in high court stating that these were not given voluntarily," Rathore said in court.