Following SC rap, Narwekar club petitions, could finish hearing by Feb ’24

The speaker also reportedly expressed displeasure with the Shiv Sena (UBT) for constantly filing new petitions and seeking information which was already available. He also asked both factions not to submit any new applications, as it would lead to a delay in concluding the disqualification proceedings. The Shinde-led Shiv Sena has been given time till October 25 to submit its say

MUMBAI: Following the Supreme Court’s strictures last week on the delay in hearing the disqualification petitions filed by both factions of the Shiv Sena against each other’s MLAs, Maharashtra assembly speaker Rahul Narwekar on Friday decided to club the 34 petitions pending before him into six petitions. The next hearing in the case is now scheduled on October 26.

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On October 17, the SC had once again slammed Narwekar, this time for not submitting a revised schedule in accordance with its orders. Solicitor-general Tushar Mehta had then assured the court that he would discuss the issue with Narwekar, who has often been berated by the SC for his tardiness in hearing the petitions. On Friday, consequently, the speaker announced that the 34 petitions filed by the two rival factions of the Shiv Sena would be clubbed into six petitions to avoid delay.

The speaker also reportedly expressed displeasure with the Shiv Sena (UBT) for constantly filing new petitions and seeking information which was already available. He also asked both factions not to submit any new applications, as it would lead to a delay in concluding the disqualification proceedings. The Shinde-led Shiv Sena has been given time till October 25 to submit its say.

After the apex court’s criticism, Narwekar is set to submit a revised schedule, indicating that he is likely to conclude the proceedings by February 2024. The speaker is expected to travel to Delhi soon and hold a meeting with solicitor-general (SG) Tushar Mehta; he will also consult Maharashtra advocate-general Birendra Saraf before submitting the revised schedule on October 30.

Shiv Sena leaders Anil Parab and Anil Desai were personally present for the hearing. Parab said that though the speaker had finally clubbed the petitions, he had not submitted a time table for hearing them. “They will have to give a schedule to the SC,” he said. “We will finish our four petitions soon, which are based on admitted facts, so not much hearing time will be needed. We expect them to finish in 15 days.”

In the hearings to date, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena (UBT) asked for the petitions to be clubbed and a joint hearing to be held of all the MLAs. Earlier, it had demanded that all the cross-petitions also be heard together so that the cases could be concluded quicker. The Eknath Shinde faction opposed both demands vehemently and insisted on independent hearings of the pleas.

Narwekar’s decision comes days after the Supreme Court granted him a final opportunity to give it a realistic time-frame for deciding the petitions. It had said that the disqualification petitions had to be adjudicated expeditiously and before the next assembly elections, otherwise the whole process would be pointless. Earlier, the apex court had come down hard on him for his delay in deciding the pleas filed by the Thackeray faction for disqualification of Shinde and his MLAs, saying that the speaker could not defeat the SC.

Similar disqualification petitions have been filed by the Shinde group against MLAs of the Sena (UBT). On September 18, the SC had directed the speaker to spell out the timeline for adjudication of the petitions.

The Shiv Sena split when a group of MLAs led by Shinde revolted against the party leadership and joined hands with the BJP to form a government in June 2022. The revolt led to the collapse of the three-party Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi government headed by Thackeray. Shinde later took over as chief minister.