SC requests that the Maharashtra Speaker not move forward with the Shiv Sena MLAs' claims of disqualification

The newly elected Maharashtra Assembly was asked on Monday by a three-judge Supreme Court bench presided over by Chief Justice of India (CJI) NV Ramana not to move forward with the claim seeking the disqualification of Shiv Sena MLAs. The bench, which also included Justices Krishna Murari and Hima Kohli, took note of the senior attorneys' arguments, led by Kapil Sibal, that several appeals from the faction of former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray were supposed to be listed on Monday in accordance with the instructions of two vacation benches but were not.

 

CJI Ramana informed Sibal that because the Bench has not yet been decided, the listing "will take some time." He stated that after he sets up a Bench, the matter will be listed after Tuesday. Sibal argued that the top court had previously defended the rebel MLAs last month when they had approached it and that no disqualification should take place until the matter is decided here. The petition for disqualification, according to him, will be heard by the Speaker on Tuesday. The Court instructed the Governor's attorney, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, to "please advise the Assembly Speaker not to take any hearing." Let's see, we'll listen to the issue," it said.

 

The Supreme Court is currently hearing petitions from both sides, the majority of which are from the Thackeray faction. They include a petition by Eknath Shinde contesting the Deputy Speaker's notices of disqualification and a petition by Sunil Prabhu, the leader of the Shiv Sena, contesting the Maharashtra government's directive to Thackeray to demonstrate the majority of the former  Maha Vikas Aghadi government. The petition Prabhu filed to protest the newly elected assembly speaker's decision to recognise the Shiv Sena chief whip nominated by the Eknath Shinde group is still pending.

 

On June 30, the day after Shinde took office as Chief Minister, Prabhu filed a petition with the Supreme Court asking for the suspension of Shinde and 15 rebels on a variety of grounds, claiming that they are "acting as pawns of the BJP, thereby committing the constitutional sin of defection." The Maharashtra Governor's choice to invite Eknath Shinde to serve as Chief Minister of Maharashtra is also the subject of a petition from Sena General Secretary Subhash Desai. The Shinde-led coalition's subsequent floor test, which established its majority, as well as the assembly proceedings that took place on July 3 and 4 that elected a new speaker of the House have both been contested by the Thackeray faction.

 

 

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