E-Paper
Supreme Court to hear pleas of rival Shiv Sena camps on July 20
According to the list of businesses available on the court website, the matter will be taken up by a new bench comprising Chief Justice of India NV Ramana and justices Krishna Murari and Hima Kohli.
The Supreme Court is expected to hear on July 20 a bunch of petitions relating to the recent political developments in Maharashtra that saw a rift in Shiv Sena, followed by the resignation of Uddhav Thackeray and rebel leader Eknath Shinde taking over as the chief minister.
According to the list of businesses available on the court website, the matter will be taken up by a new bench comprising Chief Justice of India NV Ramana and justices Krishna Murari and Hima Kohli.
Earlier, a bench of justices Surya Kant and JB Pardiwala heard the matter during the summer vacation when it refused to stall the floor test, prompting Uddhav to throw in the towel.
On July 11, CJI Ramana asked Maharashtra Speaker Rahul Narwekar to suspend the disqualification proceedings pending against the MLAs of Shiv Sena, belonging to both Eknath Shinde and Uddhav Thackeray factions until the court hears the matter next.
Without passing a formal order, the CJI had asked solicitor general Tushar Mehta, who appeared for the Maharashtra governor, to communicate the court’s mandate to newly elected Speaker Narwekar, who is also a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader.
The interim order passed by the Supreme Court on June 27 had put in abeyance the disqualification petitions pending against Shinde and 15 other MLAs till July 12.
However, after Uddhav resigned on June 29 and the Shinde faction subsequently nominated its chief whip in the assembly, disqualification petitions were also filed against MLAs of the Uddhav-camp for not voting in favour of Shinde during the trust vote on July 4.
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 Uddhav-camp also approached the apex court later, challenging the actions of the governor in directing Uddhav to prove the majority on the floor of the House as well as inviting Shinde to form the government in the state. The Uddhav camp has further challenged Narwekar’s decision to recognise Shinde as the leader of Shiv Sena and appointment of a new chief whip of the party.
A total of five petitions on various aspects of the political imbroglio will be considered by the three-judge bench on July 20.
