Read Time: 07 minutes

Synopsis

The Allahabad High Court has reserved judgment in Samajwadi Party leader Lal Bihari Yadav's plea against his de-recognition as the leader of opposition in the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council.

The bench of Justice Attau Rahman Masoodi and Justice Om Prakash Shukla is set to table its verdict in plea where Yadav, an elected member of the Legislative Council since 2020 who was recognized as the leader of opposition on May 27 this year, prayed to quash or stay the operation of notification for his de-recognition.

The office of Principal Secretary Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council, on July 7 issued a notification that stated that as the number of members of the Samajwadi Party got reduced from 11 to 9 in the State Legislative Council, therefore, owing to lack of the required quorum (i.e. minimum of 10), Yadav's recognition as the leader of the opposition had been withdrawn.

Challenging the same, Yadav moved a plea, drawn by Advocates Krishna Kanhaiya Pal and Pooja Pal, before the high court stating that the action of the Principal Secretary, UP Legislative Council was contrary to rule 234 of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council’s Procedure and Conduct of Business Rules 1956.

During the course of hearing in the plea, the court also considered the issues as to "when the strength of the largest opposition party in the legislative council is below the quorum of 10 as per Rule 234 of the Procedure & Practice Rules, 1956; does law mandate for recognition of leader of opposition?"

Yadav's plea stated that as per the definition mentioned under Rule 234 of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council’s Procedure and Conduct of Business Rules 1956, there is no provision for de-recognition with regard to the leader of opposition in the UP Legislative Council. 

"The definition of leader of opposition is defined under section 2(h) of the Uttar Pradesh State Legislature (members, emoluments and pension) Act, 1980 i.e. 2(h) which provides a member of the Assembly or the Council, who is, for the time being, recognized as such by the speaker, or the chairman, as the case may be," the plea read. 

It further stated that the leader of opposition in the houses of Indian Parliament is a statutory post and this post is defined in the salaries and allowances of leaders of opposition in parliament Act 1977, as simply the leader of the numerically biggest party in opposition to the government and recognised as such by the speaker/Chairman.

Further referring to the definition of 'leader of opposition' given under section 2(b) of the Gujrat Assembly (Leader the opposition) Salary and Allowances Act 1979, section 2 of the Salary and Allowances of the leader of opposition in the Assam Legislative Assembly Act, 1978, section 2 of the Leaders of Opposition in Maharashtra Legislature Salaries and Allowances Act, 1978, the plea stated that "The point to note here is that the statute gives the numerically largest party in the opposition the right to have a leader recognised as leader of the opposition by the speaker."

The Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council (Hindi: Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Parishad) is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of Uttar Pradesh which is one of the six states in India, where the state legislature is bicameral, comprising two houses: the Vidhan Sabha (Legislative Assembly) and the Vidhan Parishad (Legislative Council).

UP Legislative Council (Vidhan Parishad) is a permanent House, Consisting of 100 members, (90 elected + 10 nominated).

Case Title: Lal Bihari Yadav v. Chairman/Sabhapati, Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council, & another.