Governor has not respected advice of council of ministers on MLCs: Maharashtra govt to HC

The state has informed the Bombay high court that governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari has not communicated his decision on nomination of members to legislative Council (MLCs), although 12 names had been submitted to him on November 6, 2020

The state has informed the Bombay high court that governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari has not communicated his decision on nomination of members to legislative Council (MLCs), although 12 names had been submitted to him on November 6, 2020.

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The state submitted that though the council of ministers had provided the aid and advice as per the relevant article of the Constitution of India, the governor had not respected the same and had kept his decision on the proposal pending for over eight months now.

A division bench of chief justice Dipankar Datta and justice Girish Kulkarni while hearing the public interest litigation filed by Ratan Soli was informed by senior advocate Aspi Chinoy that by not taking a decision the Governor had acted contrary to the principles of constitutional democracy. Chinoy submitted that though the governor could not be made a party in the case, his actions and inactions could be subjected to a judicial review, which was appropriate in this case due to the inordinate delay on his part to decide.

Senior counsel Rafique Dada for the state submitted that the governor should have accepted or rejected the recommendations of the council of ministers but could not have a third option which was illusionary or non-existent.

After hearing the submissions the court sought to know from the petitioner as to whether the judicial review was possible in the present case and also sought a response on the maintainability of the petition and posted hearing to July 16.