Uttarakhand HC hearing on rebel MLAs' disqualification on April 25

Dehradun: The Uttarakhand High Court on Saturday deferred till April 25 its decision on the disqualification of nine rebel Congress legislators by the assembly speaker.

The case will be heard again in the court of Justice UC Dhyani.

The case filed by the nine MLAs was taken up for hearing on Saturday afternoon.

The lawyers of the nine legislators sought time till Monday to present more information on the issue before the court.

Lawyer for the Congress party, former union minister Kapil Sibal, opposed the request and sided with the speaker's decision to disqualify the nine legislators who opposed the budget on the floor of the house last month.

After a brief break, the court resumed proceedings and deferred the hearing till Monday.

Speaker Govind Kunjwal on March 27 had disqualified the nine Congress legislators, including former chief minister Vijay Bahuguna, who spearheaded the rebellion against Chief Minister Harish Rawat.

This ultimately led to political instability in the state and imposition of central rule. The high court had stayed the President's Rule, but the Supreme Court on Friday kept in abeyance till April 27 the high court order removing central rule.