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Sena vs Sena: Supreme Court raps Maharashtra speaker over disqualification pleas against Shinde, his MLAs
The Supreme Court said Maharashtra assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar must decide the disqualification petitions before the assembly election next year.
The Supreme Court pulled up Maharashtra assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar for delaying adjudication of disqualification petitions against Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde and MLAs supporting him. The court said it will fix a timeline if the speaker fails to submit a revised schedule expediting the process
“We are concerned about maintaining the dignity of this court. Our orders must be complied with,” the bench said, adding the speaker must decide the disqualification petitions before the assembly election next year or the whole process will become infructuous.
The court will hear the case next on Monday. The bench said if it is not satisfied with the timeline of the speaker then it would direct that the decision be taken within two months.
“The writ of this court has to run when there is a decision contrary to the Constitution of India,” the bench said, indicating that it may hear the plea on Monday or Tuesday.
On September 18, the top court had directed the Maharashtra assembly speaker to spell out the timeline for adjudication of the disqualification petitions against Shinde and other MLAs.
The Sena factions filed a barrage of disqualification pleas against each other last year after Shinde and 39 MLAs broke away from the parent party and sided with the BJP to form the government.
In July, the speaker had issued notices to 40 MLAs of the Shinde-led Sena and 14 of the Thackeray faction, seeking their replies on disqualification petitions against them.
The notices were issued against a total of 54 MLAs. But notice was not issued against Sena (UBT) MLA Rutuja Latke who was elected after the Shiv Sena split last year.
Sunil Prabhu from the Thackeray faction, in his capacity as chief whip of the undivided Shiv Sena, had filed the disqualification petitions against Shinde and 15 other MLAs last year after the rebellion and resultant split in the party.
On May 11 this year, the Supreme Court ruled that Shinde will continue to be the chief minister of Maharashtra. It also said that it cannot reinstate the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition government headed by Thackeray as the latter chose to resign without facing a floor test in the wake of Shinde’s rebellion.
The Shiv Sena (UBT) has been accusing Narwekar of deliberately delaying in arriving at a decision on the disqualification pleas.
On September 21, Narwekar said he would not delay the decision on the disqualification pleas of some Shiv Sena MLAs, but wouldn't rush into it either as it may result in "miscarriage of justice".
