New Delhi: The Supreme Court directed on Wednesday that the 15 rebel Congress and JD(S) MLAs "ought not" to be compelled to take part in the proceedings of the Karnataka Assembly, which is slated to decide the confidence motion moved by the H D Kumaraswamy-led state government on July 18.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi further said Karnataka Assembly Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar was free to decide on the resignations of the rebel legislators within the time-frame decided by him. The court also said the speaker's decision be put before it.