There will be no delay or haste in ruling: Narwekar

Maharashtra Legislative Assembly speaker Rahul Narwekar is expected to reschedule the hearing and cross-examinations and submit the plan to the Supreme Court next week. He will also inform the court that the two-month period is too short to complete the hearings. The state legislature will consult with legal officials before presenting the new schedule. There are concerns that the hearing may continue until the end of the current assembly's term.

Strap: The schedule of inquiry to be submitted to SC next week

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Mumbai After facing flak from Supreme Court over the delay in ruling on the disqualification petitions, Maharashtra Legislative Assembly speaker Rahul Narwekar is expected to reschedule the hearing and cross-examinations, and submit the plan on Tuesday. On the other hand, he is likely to inform the court that the mandated two-month period is too short to complete the hearings and follow the doctrine of natural justice.

Reacting to SC’s remark, Narwekar said, “I have been following the rules and laws of legislature related to the disqualification. I do not want to delay the ruling, but at the same time would not give any decision in haste as justice hurried is justice buried. It may lead to the miscarriage of justice.”

After SC’s observations on Friday, the state legislature convened meetings of officials and is expected to consult the solicitor general of India and advocate general of Maharashtra in the next three days, before presenting the schedule.

An official from the state legislature said the “schedule has to be tweaked to complete the hearing in the stipulated time”, adding it is unlikely to be completed in that time. “We have 133 parties appearing in 34 petitions and each has to be given the opportunity to lead the evidence – each cause of action and nature of defence is different. Daily hearings, as desired by the court, are also not possible as there is other administrative work to be done,” he said.

On the other hand, the officer said parallel hearing and decision on the disqualification of MLAs from Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in the stipulated time was a tall order. The legislature will however start sending notices to the NCP MLAs next week.

Earlier, Narwekar held three hearings of the MLAs from both Sena factions and is expected to give his decision on the Thackeray faction’s demand of clubbing all the petitions on October 20. In response to the SC diktat on September 18 asking the speaker to submit a schedule for hearing, the state legislature, on September 25 submitted the same to the apex court. It said the cross examination of the petitioners and other parties were expected to begin from November 23. “The schedule will change now,” said another officer from the legislature.

After SC’s remarks, Narwekar was attacked by the opposition.

NCP chief Sharad Pawar expressed concern about the hearing being delayed until the end of the ongoing term of the Assembly. “Prima facie, it is a clear case of dilly-dallying and the inquiry will probably continue until the term of the current assembly gets over. This is the reason we approached SC. We are happy that the top court has taken it seriously,” said Pawar.

“There has been no decision even after six months. If the speaker does not submit the timetable of procedure SC may intervene. We are pinning our hope on SC, as we do not have any in Narwekar,” said MLC Anil Parab from the Thackeray faction.

Industries minister Uday Samant, from the Shinde faction said, “We request the speaker to take the decision at the earliest. We have a strong moral and constitutional case, backed by the will of the legislative party, parliamentary party, workers and voters of the Shiv Sena.”