Allahabad HC dismisses SP leader Lal Bihari Yadav's plea to continue as LoP in council

LUCKNOW: The Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court on Friday dismissed the plea of Samajwadi Party leader and MLC Lal Bihari Yadav against the notification issued by the principal secretary, legislative council on July 7, 2022, whereby he had derecognized him as leader of opposition in the Council.
A bench of Justice AR Masoodi and Justice OP Shukla passed the order on the writ petition filed by Yadav.Writing the judgment for the bench, Justice Shukla observed, "Yadav does not have an inalienable right to be appointed or to continue as Leader of Opposition. The Uttar Pradesh State Legislature (Members' Emoluments and Pension) Act, 1980 does not prescribe any mechanism for recognising a leader of opposition."
"The chairman of the legislative council was not bound to be guided only with the criteria of recognising the leader of an opposition party, which has the greatest numerical strength. The rule provides for discretion of the Chairman to recognize and/or de-recognise a leader of opposition," added Justice Shukla.
Opposing the petition on behalf of the legislative council and its chairman, advocate Gaurav Mehrotra relied on the rule 234 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business Rules, 1956, arguing that the legislative council's chairman has fair and judicious exercise of discretion in derecognising Yadav as leader of opposition and it is in conformity to the precedent and practice of the legislative council.
It was alleged in the petition that the petitioner Yadav was elected an MLC in 2020 and on May 27, 2020, he was designated as leader of opposition. But the UP Vidhan Parishad secretariat derecognized him as the leader of opposition in the council, as the Samajwadi Party's strength in the council had then fallen short of ten -- the minimum for the largest opposition party to get the post. The petitioner had pleaded that the decision of the principal secretary was illegal and arbitrary.