The Supreme Court’s verdict quashing the suspension of 12 Opposition MLAs from the Maharashtra Assembly last year evoked mix response on Friday, with the Opposition BJP terming the SC ruling as a ‘tight slap’ on the face of the MVA Government and the ruling Shiv Sena saying that the apex court had ‘overstepped’ the rights of the legislature in its order.
Soon after the Supreme Court quashed the suspension of its 12 MLAs as “unconstitutional” and “irrational,” the BJP went to town, welcoming the apex court verdict and terming the ruling as a tight slap on the face of the MVA government.
“Satyameva Jayate ! We welcome & thank the Hon SC for the historic decision of quashing the suspension of our 12 MLAs, who were fighting for the cause of OBCs in Maharashtra Legislative Assembly during the monsoon session.. I congratulate our BJP Maharashtra 12 MLAs for getting justice,” former Chief Minister and current leader of the Opposition Devendra Fadnavis of the BJP tweeted.
“Since the beginning, we were saying that it was completely unconstitutional & gross misuse of power to suspend our MLAs for such a long period to create an artificial majority & that too for no valid reason & the Hon SC has upheld our stand. It was not only a question of 12 MLAs but of more than 50 lakh citizens in these 12 constituencies. Democracy saved!!!”
Maharashtra BJP president Chandrakant Patil tweeted: “The suspension was not at all within the framework of the Constitution. It was not in accordance with the law, rather it was arbitrary. The court has also expressed the same opinion.”
“The State Government should realise that it is wrong to trample on the democratic values in such a manner. Now the question is what action the MVA Government will take against those who ordered unjust suspension,” Patil wondered.
The Shiv Sena and NCP leaders refused to accept that the Supreme Court’s decision was a ‘setback’ to the MVA Government since the decision was taken by the Speaker of the State Assembly and that the Legislature had the power to suspend the MLAs
“The Maharashtra Legislature has the power to suspend MLAs… Or, for that matter the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha can suspend MPs, it is well within their powers,” Sena MP and Chief Spokesperson Sanjay Raut said.
“I am surprised that the SC is going soft on 12 BJP MLAs who have been suspended for their alleged misbehaviour. The same SC is surprisingly not so considerate when it comes to 12 names nominated by the state cabinet to be appointed as MLCs. The Governor is sitting on the file for some political vendetta. The SC has overstepped on the rights of the legislators when it comes to suspension of 12 MLAs,” Raut said.
It may be recalled that on July 5 12 MLAs were suspended after they created a ruckus over the OBC reservations issue and alleged that Speaker-in-Chair Bhaskar Jadhav did not give them enough time to speak.
The BJP MLAs, who were suspended from the Assembly for a year were Parag Alavani, Ram Satpute, Sanjay Kute, Ashish Shelar, Abhimanyu Pawar, Girish Mahajan, Atul Bhatkalkar, Harish Pimpale, Jayakumar Rawal, Yogesh Sagar, Narayan Kuche and Kirtikumar Bhangdiya.
Reacting to the Supreme Court’s ruling, Maharashtra minister and NCP’s chief spokesperson Nawab Malik said: “The speaker of the legislative assembly will take a decision once the Supreme Court’s written order is available. The decision to suspend 12 MLAs of BJP was taken by the speaker and not by the government.”
“The secretariat of the Maharashtra Assembly will study the SC decision after which the speaker will decide,” Malik said.
State NCP president and senior minister Jayant Patil said that the 12 BJP MLas came to be suspended for their “misbehaviour” with the then speaker. “The decision to suspend them was taken by the speaker and not the state government,” he said.
Now after the Supreme Court’s verdict, the final decision will be taken once the written order is made available to the office of the speaker,” he said.
“What happened on that day with the then speaker was so extreme that it led to the suspension of the MLAs for 12 months. Incidents had happened in the past as well when legislators were suspended for a longer period,” he said.
Alluding to the Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari’s failure to nominate 12 members to the Legislative Council from his quota based on the recommendation of the State Cabinet, Patil said: “Everything should happen as per the law. The state cabinet had recommended 12 names, but they are yet to be approved by the governor”.