20 disqualified AAP MLAs reinstated

AAP MLAs Madan Lal Khufiya Shivcharan Goel Vijender Garg Sharad Kumar Chauhan and others celebrate after Delhi HC restored the membership of 20 AAP MLAs in the officeofprofit case PicPTIIn a major relief to the Aam Aadmi Party AAP the Delhi High Court on Friday restored the legislatorship of 20 ruling party MLAs who were disqualified for holding officesofprofit Setting aside the Election Commission EC recommendation disqualifying the MLAs the court quashed the January 20 presidential order and referred the case back to the poll panel for a fresh hearingA division bench of Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Chander Shekhar said the January 19 poll panel recommendation given to the President is vitiated and bad in law for failure to comply with principles of natural justice It said there was a violation of natural justice and no oral hearing was given to the AAP MLAs before disqualifying them as legislators The court had reserved its judgment on February 28 after the MLAs and the EC concluded their arguments Delhi Chief Minister and AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal described it as a victory for truthThe MLAs were disqualified on charges of holding officesofprofit because they were appointed parliamentary secretaries in March 2015 The Delhi government appointed 21 AAP MLAs as parliamentary secretaries to assist cabinet ministers and include more MLAs in governance workLawyer and petitioner in the case Prashant Patel was the first to complain to then President Pranab Mukherjee that the MLAs holding the offices of parliamentary secretaries was in violation of the Constitution Mukherjee referred the complaint to the ECMLAs to attend House proceedingsDelhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel on Friday said he would allow the 20 AAP MLAs embroiled in the officeofprofit controversy to attend the ongoing Budget session in the wake of the high court setting aside their disqualification in the caseIts a victory of truth KejriwalIt is a victory of truth Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday said after the Delhi High Court set aside the Centres notification disqualifying 20 AAP MLAs in an officeofprofit case Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia too welcomed the order as he joined the AAP legislators in thumping tables in the Delhi Assembly during its ongoing budget session The MLAs shouted Bharat Mata Ki Jai in the Assembly after the order It is a victory of truth The high court has given justice to the people of Delhi It is their victory Kejriwal tweetedMarch 2015The month they were appointed as parliamentary secretariesJan 19 2015The poll panel recommended the disqualification of the 20 AAP MLAsCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updatesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever