Halt proceedings against Shiv Sena MLAs, SC tells Speaker

Without passing a formal order, Chief Justice of India NV Ramana asked solicitor general Tushar Mehta to communicate the court’s mandate to newly elected speaker Narwekar, who is a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader.

The Supreme Court on Monday asked Maharashtra speaker Rahul Narwekar to suspend the disqualification proceedings pending against the MLAs of Shiv Sena, belonging to both the Eknath Shinde and the Uddhav Thackeray factions, until the court hears the matter next, amid the ongoing political developments in the state.

Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde.

Without passing a formal order, Chief Justice of India NV Ramana asked solicitor general Tushar Mehta to communicate the court’s mandate to newly elected speaker Narwekar, who is a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader.

“Mr Mehta, you please inform the assembly speaker not to take up the disqualification petitions until this court hears the matter,” the CJI told Mehta, who was appearing for the Maharashtra governor in a clutch of cases arising out of the rebellion in Shiv Sena last month, triggering dramatic developments that saw Uddhav Thackeray resign and Shinde taking over as the chief minister.

The S-G assured justice Ramana that the court’s message would be conveyed to the speaker. The interim order passed by the Supreme Court on June 27 put in abeyance the disqualification petitions pending against Shinde and 15 other MLAs till July 12.

However, after Thackeray resigned on June 29 and the Shinde-faction subsequently nominated its own chief whip in the assembly, disqualification petitions were also filed against MLAs of the former’s faction for not voting in favour of Shinde during the trust vote on July 4, in defiance of the whip issued by the Shinde-faction. .

While the first two petitions in the Supreme Court were filed by the Shinde-faction to stop the deputy speaker from disqualifying them as MLAs, the Thackeray faction approached the court later, challenging the actions of the governor in directing Uddhav Thackeray to prove his majority on the floor of the House as well as inviting Shinde to form the government in the state. The Thackeray faction also challenged the speaker’s decision to recognise Shinde as the leader of Shiv Sena and the appointment of new chief whip of the party.

On Monday, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the Thackeray faction, sought an urgent listing of the petitions, pointing out that the speaker has kept the disqualification matter for hearing on July 12. Sibal added that although the court had initially directed for listing of all matters relating to the Maharashtra political crisis on Monday, cases were not listed.

To this, the CJI said that listing would take some time as the composition of the bench is yet to be finalised. “I am not listing the matter tomorrow. This matter will require constitution of bench and will take some time to be listed,” justice Ramana said.

Sibal replied that the speaker should, therefore, be asked to defer the disqualification proceedings until the court hears the matter. “Tomorrow, the speaker may dismiss all the disqualification petitions against them (Shinde faction) and could disqualify the other side (Uddhav faction).”

The CJI accepted Sibal’s request and asked S-G Mehta to communicate to Narwekar that no disqualification cases should be decided until the court hears the matter.

A total of five petitions are currently pending before the top court relating to the recent political developments in Maharashtra.

The first two petitions are by Shinde and 15 other dissident Shiv Sena MLAs challenging the disqualification notices issued by deputy speaker Narhari Zirwal. On June 27, a vacation bench of justices Surya Kant and JB Pardiwala virtually restrained Zirwal from proceeding in the matter as it extended the time for the rebel MLAs to file written responses to the disqualification notice till July 12.

On June 29, Shiv Sena chief whip Sunil Prabhu moved the top court against the Maharashtra governor’s direction to Uddhav Thackeray to prove majority of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government. Following a protracted hearing that took place beyond the normal working hours of the court, the court refused to stall the floor test. Minutes after the court’s refusal, Thackeray resigned as CM. Shinde was sworn-in as the new CM of state on June 30 and with the support of the group of dissident Shiv Sena MLAs and BJP, he also won the floor test on July 4 with a 164-99 margin.

Subsequently, Prabhu filed another petition on July 4, challenging the action of the newly elected Maharashtra speaker (Narwane) recognising the whip nominated by the Shinde-faction as the chief whip of Shiv Sena.

Another petition was filed on July 8 by Thackeray-loyalist Subhash Desai, the general secretary of Shiv Sena, assailing the decision of the Maharashtra governor to invite Shinde to form the new government in the state.

Different vacation benches in the Supreme Court said that all the petitions would be heard together on July 11, after the court vacation. But the matter was not listed on Monday while the restraint against the speaker to decide the disqualification petitions expires on Tuesday.

In an affidavit filed on Saturday, the secretary of the Maharashtra legislative assembly told the Supreme Court that BJP leader Rahul Narwekar is empowered by law to decide the disqualification petitions pending against CM Shinde and other dissident MLAs of Shiv Sena and that the deputy speaker cannot deal with the matter anymore.

The assembly secretary’s response came even as the Thackeray faction has implored the Supreme Court to decide the pending disqualification pleas against the rebel MLAs by itself and not leave the decision to the new speaker.

Prabhu, in his affidavit, told the court that Narwekar should not be allowed to decide the disqualification petitions since the latter has already shown his bias by recognising Shinde as the leader of the Shiv Sena legislative party.

“The newly elected speaker has already by his conduct displayed the real and clear danger/ apprehension of bias in favour of Eknath Shinde and the other delinquent MLAs who have voted in his support to appoint him the speaker in quid pro quo to the benefits they are reaping presently,” said Prabhu.

The affidavits by the assembly secretary and Prabhu were filed in response to the petitions moved by the Shinde-camp, seeking to restrain Zirwal from disqualifying the dissident MLAs at the instance of Prabhu.