The Supreme Court has taken a big decision regarding the disqualification of Eknath Shinde and his 15 MLAs. The decision of these 15 MLAs has been entrusted to Assembly Speaker Rahul Narvekar. Along with that, the time frame for when the Assembly Speaker should take this decision has also been given. Therefore, the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly will have to take a decision within the stipulated period.
The Maharashtra Political crisis has been moved to a larger bench. CJI and the bench said recognising Bharat Gogavle as whip was illegal. He also said that the speaker should have done an inquiry, as the speaker was aware of two factions.
He further said that no faction can claim to be the original party and the Election Commission can decide on symbols.
Speaking on restoring the government, SC said that if Uddhav Thackeray had not quit, would have restored the government. Uddhav resigned, didn't face the floor test, CJI added.
Speaking on the role of the governor, CJI remarked that the governor cannot enter the political arena. He also said that the government erred in judgement that MVA had no majority.
Also Read: Maharashtra: Uddhav Faction Met Governor Prior SC Verdict
On Thursday, May 11, the Supreme Court delivered judgments in the case which is related to Uddhav Thackeray and Eknath Shinde factions following the rift in the Shiv Sena party.
The Constitution Bench had reserved the judgement
On the Shiv Sena issue, the Constitution Bench had reserved the judgement on March 16. In June 2022, the first petition was filed by Eknath Shinde challenging the notices issued by the then Deputy Speaker against the rebels under the tenth schedule of the Constitution over alleged defection.
Thackeray group filed petitions
Following which, the Thackeray group filed petitions in the Supreme Court challenging the decision of the Maharashtra Governor to call for a trust vote, Eknath Shinde’s swearing-in as the Chief Minister of the Government with the backing of BJP, the election of new Speaker etc. On February 14, the bench started hearing the matter.
The Uddhav faction first raised a preliminary issue that the matter should be referred to a larger bench to reconsider the dictum that is laid down in the Nabam Rebia(2016) judgement that speakers cannot issue disqualification notices when a notice seeking their removal is pending.
For three days, the bench heard arguments on the preliminary issue and on February 17, the bench decided to take this preliminary issue into consideration along with the merits of the matter. The same day, the Election Commission of India passed the order recognising Eknath Shinde as the official Shiv Sena. The bench started hearing the matter on merits from February 21 onwards.
Senior Advocates for Uddhav and Eknath faction
On behalf of the Uddhav faction, senior advocates Kapil Sibal, Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi, and Devadatt Kamat argued while senior advocates Neeraj Kishan Kaul, Harish Salve, Mahesh Jethmalani and Maninder Singh argued for the Shinde side. On behalf of the Maharashtra Governor, Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta argued. The batch included the petitions filed by members from the groups of Shinde and Thackeray over several issues.
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