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SC agrees to consider Sharad Pawar-led camp’s plea for action against rebel MLAs
Opposing the plea, advocate Mukul Rohatgi appeared for the Ajit Pawar faction, arguing that the plea was misleading because the latest disqualification petition was filed only in the first week of Sept
The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to consider on October 13 a petition moved by the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) faction led by Sharad Pawar, seeking directives to the Maharashtra assembly speaker for a time-bound decision on the disqualification petitions pending against a group of rebel legislators, including Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar.
A bench, led by Chief Justice of India Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud, noted that the present petition should be heard with a similar plea demanding quick adjudication of the disqualification petitions against Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde and the MLAs who backed him during the rebellion against Uddhav Thackeray in June last year.
Also Read: Sharad Pawar led NCP approaches Supreme Court seeking directives for action against rebel MLAs
“Let this be heard with the other one already pending before us. They involve the same issue, and the prayers are also the same. We had asked the Speaker to lay down a time schedule. We will list this and the other matter together on Friday,” the bench, which also included justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, said.
Senior advocates Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Kapil Sibal appeared for the Sharad Pawar-camp, complaining that though the first disqualification was filed before assembly speaker Rahul Narwekar on July 2, not even notice has been issued in the matter till date.
Opposing the plea, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi appeared for the Ajit Pawar faction, arguing that the petition was misleading because the latest disqualification petition was filed only in the first week of September.
Both Singhvi and Sibal countered this, emphasising that the first petition was filed before Narwekar on July 2, and nothing has been done in over three months.
In July, Sharad Pawar-led camp filed disqualification petitions against 40 MLAs for anti-party activities after Ajit Pawar split the party and joined the coalition government in the state as deputy chief minister.
The petition filed by Sharad Pawar loyalist Jayant Patil sought a directive to the Speaker for a time-bound disposal of the disqualification petitions in view of a similar directive passed by the Supreme Court in the case involving intra-party dispute between Uddhav Thackeray and Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde.
Last year, Shinde, along with a group of rebel MLAs, caused a vertical split in Shiv Sena, finally leading to Thackeray’s resignation as chief minister and Shinde taking over at the helm.
By an order on September 18, the Supreme Court had fast-tracked the adjudication of the disqualification petitions against Shinde and the MLAs who backed him during the 2022 rebellion, directing Narwekar to start hearing the petitions within a week and set down a time schedule for deciding them.
Telling Narwekar that he must “abide by the dignity of the Supreme Court”, the bench had on the day recording its displeasure against the sluggish pace of adjudication of the bunch of disqualification petitions.
While 39 petitions have been filed by the Thackeray faction against Shinde and the MLAs supporting him under the anti-defection law, more than a dozen disqualification petitions remain pending against the MLAs of the Thackeray group too. It asked Narwekar to inform the court on the next date about the stage of the adjudication as well as the timeline to dispose of all 56 disqualification petitions.
Patil’s petition was filed before the Supreme Court on September 24, lamenting that Narwekar had simply been sitting over the disqualification petitions for the last three months.
The Sharad Pawar camp has filed three petitions for disqualification of rebel MLAs.
The first petition was filed against nine MLAs, including Ajit Pawar; the second petition was against 20 MLAs; and the third against 11 MLAs.
Meanwhile, the second hearing by the Election Commission of India (ECI) on a petition filed by the Ajit Pawar faction staking claim to the party’s name and symbol is scheduled before the polling body for Monday.
