SC notice to Maharashtra Speaker over disqualification petitions

New Delhi, July 14

The SC on Friday issued notice to the office of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Speaker on Shiv Sena-UBT’s petition seeking expeditious disposal of its plea for disqualification of CM Eknath Shinde and other Sena MLAs, who formed a new government with the BJP in June 2022.

Acting on Shiv Sena-UTB MLA Sunil Prabhu, who was the chief whip of the undivided Shiv Sena and had filed disqualification petitions against Shinde and other MLAs in 2022, a Bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud asked the Speaker’s office to respond in two weeks. Prabhu accused Speaker Rahul Narwekar of deliberately delaying the adjudication despite the May 11 Constitution Bench verdict asking him to take a call on the petitions within a reasonable period.

A five-judge Bench led by CJI DY Chandrachud had refused to reinstate the Uddhav Thackeray-led government in Maharashtra for it resigned without facing a floor test even as it faulted the then Governor BS BS Koshyari for directing it to prove its majority in the House. Refusing to disqualify the 16 rebel Shiv Sena MLAs including Shinde, the Constitution Bench had unanimously said the SC cannot ordinarily adjudicate petitions for disqualification under the Tenth Schedule in the first instance and “The Speaker must decide disqualification petitions within a reasonable period.”

Despite the categorical direction of the top court that the pending disqualification petitions must be decided within a reasonable period, the Speaker has chosen not to conduct a single hearing, Prabhu submitted.