State to ask Maharashtra Governor to appoint chief minister to legislative Council | Mumbai news - Hindustan Times
close_game
close_game

State to ask Maharashtra Governor to appoint chief minister to legislative Council

ByFaisal Malik and Swapnil Rawal, Mumbai
Apr 09, 2020 11:18 PM IST

The Maharashtra cabinet, in a meeting headed by deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar on Thursday, decided to recommend Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari to appoint chief minister (CM) Uddhav Thackeray as a member of the state legislative Council to avoid a constitutional crisis in the state.

HT Image
HT Image

“As elections cannot be conducted owing to the Covid-19 crisis, and two of the seats for the legislative Council under the Governor-appointed quota are vacant at present, the state cabinet decided to recommend the Governor to appoint Uddhav Thackeray as the member of legislative Council on one of the seats,” said a statement released by the CM’s office.

Hindustan Times - your fastest source for breaking news! Read now.

Thackeray, who was sworn-in as CM on November 28 last year has to get elected to one of the two houses of the state legislature within six months (the period ends on May 28), failing which he would have to resign. If such a situation was to prevail, the entire cabinet also would have to tender resignation. Though they can be sworn-in again, such a situation would be an embarrassment for the state government and could lead to constitutional crisis. Thackeray had planned to contest a by-election to the legislative Council but the polls have been postponed owing to the Covid-19 outbreak.

Of the total 78 seats in the legislative Council, the Governor has powers to appoint 12 of them belonging to different walks of life such as arts, culture, literature and social service. The recommendations are made by the state government. In recent instances, several politicians have been nominated from this quota.

According to Article 164 (4) of the Constitution, “A minister, who for any period of six consecutive months, is not a member of the legislature shall at the expiration of that period cease to be a minister”.

“This is an unprecedented situation. Elections cannot be held due to the coronavirus outbreak. However, we don’t want any constitutional crisis while fighting Covid-19, and thus the cabinet decided to recommend the Governor to appoint Uddhav Thackeray as member of the legislative Council from [the two seats] under his quota,” said a senior minister, wishing not to be named.

This is not the first instance in which the head of the government will be appointed from the upper house. “This is not unusual as in the past, there have been cases when a minister has been appointed from the upper House. Even former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was a member of the Rajya Sabha. However, in case the governor doesn’t accept the recommendation, then Thackeray will have to resign and by-election would have to be conducted. Holding elections in this situation is difficult but not impossible,” said Shreehari Aney, former advocate general of the state.

Experts have opined that the recommendations made by the state cabinet are binding on the Governor though the Governor can object to any name.

“The recommendation made by the cabinet is binding on the Governor and President in parliamentary form of the government,” said Anant Kalse former principal secretary, state legislature. He also said that the state cabinet will recommend Uddhav Thackeray’s name to the Governor as an individual and not as the chief minister.

However, in the past similar recommendation made by the state cabinet was not accepted by the Governor. Koshyari ,who was a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader from Uttarakhand, is not exactly on cordial terms with three-party coalition government in the state.

In December last year, the state cabinet had recommended to appoint Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leaders — Shivajirao Garje and Aditi Nalawade — as members of the legislative Council but the Governor did not take any decision on it. Both the seats got vacant after NCP leaders — Rahul Narvekar and Ramrao Wadkute — left the party in the run up to the state Assembly polls

Shiv Sena leaders however, are positive about getting Koshyari’s nod to appoint Thackeray to the upper house of the state legislature.

A Sena minister said that the party had two options: either to get him elected on one of the nine seats that fall vacant on April 24 or to get Thackeray nominated from Governor’s quota. “We did not want the recommendation to go through Shiv Sena group leader for Uddhav ji’s nomination as he had not cleared the two names recommended by the NCP group leader. Instead, it was decided that the recommendation should go through the cabinet. The Governor may dilly-dally, but we expect him to clear it. Criticism [of Governor] aside, Maharashtra is facing an unprecedented situation and the people should not suffer because of politics,” the Sena minister said, requesting anonymity.

The recommendation from the Cabinet also comes a day after Sena leader Sanjay Raut raised Koshyari’s alleged interference in the state’s administrative work. Raut was backed by NCP chief Sharad Pawar when he raised the issue with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday during an online conference with group leaders of political parties.

The state has also pushed back local body elections and the Election Commission of India (ECI) has deferred the Rajya Sabha polls that were scheduled in March this year.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
Share this article
SHARE
Story Saved
Live Score
OPEN APP
Saved Articles
Following
My Reads
Sign out
New Delhi 0C
Thursday, March 28, 2024
Start 14 Days Free Trial Subscribe Now
Follow Us On