Asks Speaker to defer plea for disqualification of Thackeray group MLAs
The Supreme Court (SC) has directed the newly-elected Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar not to proceed against the MLAs of Shiv Sena’s Uddhav Thackeray faction for defying the whip issued by the Eknath Shinde faction during the trust vote and the election of the Speaker. The Shinde group has sought their disqualification.
After winning the trust vote in the State Assembly on July 4, the Shinde faction of the Shiv Sena issued a notice to 14 Legislators from the Uddhav Thackeray camp for violating a whip issued by the Sena whip and Shinde loyalist Bharat Gogawale.
A three-judge Bench comprising Chief Justice NV Ramana and Justices Krishna Murari and Hima Kohli gave relief to the Uddhav camp after senior advocates led by Kapil Sibal pointed out that several pleas of the Uddhav faction, which were to be listed on Monday, have not been taken up because a Bench was not set up for the matter.
The court said the matter be listed after Tuesday after setting up the Bench.
“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), 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) who represented Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari, said he would convey the message to the Speaker.
The top court is flooded with petitions from the Thackeray faction arising out of the rebellion in Shiv Sena which first led to the downfall of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) Government led by the Sena supremo and the consequential appointment of Shinde as his successor with the help of BJP.
On July 3, Narvekar of the BJP was elected Speaker of the Maharashtra Assembly. He had polled 164 votes and defeated the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena candidate Rajan Salvi, who got 107 votes.
A day before the floor test, Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Narvekar had recognised Gogawale as the Shiv Sena’s Chief Whip, removing Sunil Prabhu, who belongs to the Thackeray faction.
Both sides have accused each other of defying the party whip during the Speaker’s election.
And also during the trust vote on July 3 and 4, respectively, seeking disqualification of the legislators from both sides.
Maharashtra legislature secretary has issued show-cause notices to 53 out of the total 55 Shiv Sena MLAs in the state - 39 of the faction led by Shinde and 14 of the Uddhav Thackeray group.
The notices have been issued under the Members of Maharashtra Legislative Assembly (disqualification on grounds of defection) rules. In the trust vote, 164 MLAs voted for the motion of confidence, while 99 voted against it.
The Shiv Sena has 55 MLAs in the 288-member Assembly, whose current strength is 287 due to the death of a Sena legislator. 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 subsequent proceedings of floor test in which the Shinde-led coalition had proved its majority.
It has also filed a plea challenging the decision of the newly-elected Speaker to recognise the new party whip of Shiv Sena rebels led by CM Shinde.