New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday, July 11, asked newly-elected Maharashtra assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar not to proceed with the plea seeking disqualification of MLAs of the Shiv Sena, a section of whom rebelled leading to the fall of the coalition government recently.
A bench comprising Chief Justice N.V. Ramana and Justices Krishna Murari and Hima Kohli took note of the submissions of senior advocates led by Kapil Sibal that several pleas of the Uddhav faction, which were to be listed on Monday, have not been listed for hearing.
“The court had said the petitions would be listed on July 11. I urge that there should be no disqualification till the matter is decided here,” Sibal said, adding that earlier the top court had protected the rebel MLAs when they had approached it.
“Our disqualification petition is listed tomorrow before the Speaker… Either way, there should not be any disqualification till the matter is decided. These matters have to be decided here,” the senior lawyer said.
“Mr (Tushar) Mehta (Solicitor General who was appearing for the Governor), you please inform the assembly speaker not to take any hearing. Let us see, we will hear the matter,” the bench said.
The solicitor general (SG) said though he was appearing for Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari, he would convey the message to the assembly speaker.
LiveLaw has reported that when Sibal said that though the matters were directed to be listed today, they were not listed, CJI Ramana said that listing “will take some time” as the bench needs to be finalised.
The court said the matter will be listed after Tuesday after a bench is set up.
Petitions from both sides – although most are from the Uddhav faction – are pending before the Supreme Court. LiveLaw has listed the pending petitions as such:
1. Petition by Eknath Shinde challenging the disqualification notices issued by the Deputy Speaker. The vacation bench of the court had on June 27 granted interim relief to the Shinde faction by extending the time for replying to the disqualification notices sent to 16 rebel Sena MLAs till July 12.
2. Petition by Shiv Sena’s chief whip Sunil Prabhu challenging the Maharashtra Governor’s direction to Uddhav Thackeray to prove majority of Maha Vikas Aghadi government. On June 29, the Maharashtra governor ordered a floor test leading the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government to rush to the top court seeking its deferment.
The bench refused to stay the direction of the Governor to the 31-month-old MVA government to take a floor test in the assembly to prove its majority, after which the then beleaguered chief minister Uddhav Thackeray quit office.
3. Petition filed by Sunil Prabhu, the whip appointed by Uddhav Thackeray-led group, challenging the action of the newly elected Maharashtra Assembly Speaker recognising the whip nominated by the Eknath Shinde group as the Chief Whip of Shiv Sena.
After Shinde was sworn in as the chief minister on June 30, Prabhu moved the top court seeking his suspension and of 15 rebels on various grounds, alleging that they are “acting as pawns of the BJP, thereby committing the constitutional sin of defection.”
“There is no better way to reward defection than offering its leader the post of Chief Minister,” Prabhu had told the Supreme Court, according to NDTV.
Prior to this, Prabhu had moved the top court seeking the suspension of the chief minister and 15 rebel MLAs against whom the disqualification pleas are pending.
4. Petition by Sena general secretary Subhash Desai against the decision of the Maharashtra governor to invite Eknath Shinde to be the Chief Minister of Maharashtra.
The Thackeray faction has also challenged the validity of assembly proceedings held on July 3 and July 4 in which a new speaker of the House was elected and the subsequent floor test in which the Shinde-led coalition proved its majority.
(With PTI inputs)