Team Sachin Pilot had challenged their disqualification notices in the Rajasthan High Court.
The all-important verdict in the Congress's Rajasthan saga - a case filed by the party's rebel MLAs led by former Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot against the Assembly Speaker's move to disqualify them - will be delivered by the Rajasthan High Court on Friday at 10:30 am.
The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed the high court to rule on the petition filed by 19 dissident Congress MLAs, including Mr Pilot, against the speaker's notice for initiating disqualification proceedings against them, but said that it would be subject to the outcome of the petition before the top court.
Rajasthan Assembly Speaker CP Joshi failed to get any temporary relief on his plea alleging that the high court cannot interdict the disqualification proceedings undertaken by him under 10th schedule of the Constitution. Justices Arun Mishra, B R Gavai and Krsihna Murari said Mr Joshi's plea raises important questions and requires prolonged hearing.
"We are not restraining the High Court from passing the order but it will be subject to the outcome of the petition (of Speaker) before the Supreme Court," the judges said, while listing the case for hearing on Monday.
"Voice of dissent in democracy cannot be shut down", they observed. "We are trying to find out whether this process (disqualification) was permissible or not," it said, while questioning Mr Joshi on the reasons for initiating disqualification proceedings against the 19 dissident Congress MLAs.
Senior advocate and Congress veteran Kapil Sibal, appearing for Mr Joshi, listed the reasons for starting the disqualification proceedings, saying that these MLAs did not attend party meetings and conspired to destabilise their own government.
Mr Joshi had tried to convince the top court that the state high court has no jurisdiction to restrain him from conducting disqualification proceedings till July 24 against 19 dissident Congress MLAs, including sacked deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot.
Team Pilot had challenged their disqualification notices through a writ petition which was taken up by a bench of Rajasthan High Court, comprising Chief Justice Indrajit Mahanty and Justice Prakash Gupta last week. The arguments in the case concluded on Tuesday and Mr Joshi then went to the top court.
The Speaker's sudden move to seek the Supreme Court's intervention reflects the Congress's worry that a legal victory for the rebels may endanger its government in Rajasthan.
Ashok Gehlot's government has a narrow lead in the 200-member assembly - just one MLA over the majority mark of 101. If the Rajasthan High Court decides the Speaker can continue the process of disqualifying team Pilot's 19 MLAs, Mr Gehlot can win more easily as the majority mark will come down.
The judgment on Friday is likely to rule if the Speaker's actions were fair and also the validity of the anti-defection law in the case.
If the rebel MLAs win their case and get protection from disqualification, however, they can vote against the Congress government and make it tough for Mr Gehlot to retain power in Rajasthan.
The Chief Minister has accused Sachin Pilot, his deputy until he sacked him last week, of conspiring with the BJP to bring down the Congress government in Rajasthan in a plan similar to Madhya Pradesh, where the Kamal Nath government crashed in March following Jyotiraditya Scindia's switch from the Congress to the BJP.