Maharashtra govt hopes governor will appoint 12 MLCs

Bombay high court on Friday said Guv was duty-bound to either accept or reject proposal within reasonable time

After the Bombay high court’s remark on Friday that governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari was constitutionally obligated to either accept or reject within reasonable time the proposal sent by the state government to appoint 12 members of legislative Council, ruling Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) leaders said they are hopeful that the governor will now make the appointments.

The state had approved the names last November. (HT File)

The governor nominates 12 people as members of the legislative council (MLCs) for a tenure of six years. The appointments are made by the governor based on the state cabinet’s recommendation.

Most of the seats have been vacant since June last year. The state had approved the names in November 2020, but they are yet to be cleared by the governor.

The list submitted to the governor included the names of Vijay Karanjkar, Urmila Matondkar, Nitin Bangude-Patil and Chandrakant Raghuvanshi from the Shiv Sena; Eknath Khadse, Raju Shetti, Yashpal Bhinge and Anand Shinde from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP); and Rajni Patil, Sachin Sawant, Anniruddha Vankar and Muzaffar Hussain from the Congress.

The inaction by the governor was challenged before the Bombay high court. While disposing of a public interest litigation (PIL), the high court observed that it cannot give directions to the governor, but hoped that things would be set right at an early date.

“Whatever be the reason, it is time that the impasse is resolved…Eight months seems to be beyond reasonable time,” said a division bench of chief justice Dipankar Datta and justice Girish S Kulkarni. The court also said the governor should speak with chief minister (Uddhav Thackeray) and let him know about his reservations in the list of nominees, if any, within reasonable time, or else, the “statutory intent will stand defeated”.

There was no reaction from Raj Bhavan till late on Friday.

Senior Congress minister Balasaheb Thorat said, “There is a limit on how much time the governor can keep a file pending with him. By delaying the approval, he is denying people their right. The delay is because of politics.”

Senior NCP minister Nawab Malik said although the governor is not bound to take a decision in a time-bound manner, the law clearly says it is the right of the state government.

“Once a proposal is cleared by the state cabinet, it is mandatory for the governor to approve. As the governor cannot reject it, he is keeping it pending, which is unfair. While saying that the HC cannot give directions to him, it also said that in the interest of the state the decision should be taken at the earliest,” Malik said.

Leader of opposition in the legislative council Pravin Darekar tried to support the governor. He said that by refusing to give directions to the governor, the high court has supported the stand taken by the governor, which indicated that the allegations made by the ruling parties against him are baseless.

“The governor is aware of his powers. The court has not directed him to take a decision in a certain period. He (governor) will decide when to make the appointment. The ruling parties should not try to pressure him through repeated criticism,” Darekar said.