Sena not to mention plea challenging guv’s refusal to give it more time

New Delhi, November 13

The Shiv Sena will not mention in the Supreme Court on Wednesday its plea challenging the governor’s decision of not granting it three days’ time for getting letter of support for government formation in Maharashtra, according to the party lawyer.

The lawyer representing Shiv Sena in the apex court told PTI that the party had preferred not to mention the petition.

Advocate Sunil Fernandes, who had filed the petition on behalf of the Shiv Sena, said on Tuesday that the Supreme Court had asked them to mention the writ petition at 10.30 am on Wednesday.

The lawyer said another petition challenging the imposition of President’s rule in the state was being readied. The Shiv Sena had on Tuesday moved the apex court challenging the Maharashtra governor’s decision but failed to get an urgent hearing in the matter.

The Shiv Sena had sought a direction from the apex court to quash the governor’s decision of not giving it the opportunity to prove majority on the floor of the House.

The party had claimed it was invited to form the government on Monday and had indicated its willingness to do so on Tuesday.

In the petition, the Sena had contended that the governor’s decision violated Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution.

The plea had said the governor’s decision rejecting the claim of the Shiv Sena, which is the second largest party with 56 MLAs, to form government is “ex facie arbitrary, unconstitutional and violative of Article 14”.

The Shiv Sena was invited to form the state government on November 10 and the petitioner had indicated its willingness to form the government on November 11, it said.

In the 288-member Maharashtra assembly, the BJP emerged as the single largest party but fell short of the majority of 145 by 40 seats.

The Shiv Sena, which was a BJP ally, garnered 56 seats. While the NCP had 54 seats and Congress had 44.

In the petition, the Shiv Sena had made the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Maharashtra government and the Sharad Pawar-led NCP as respondents.

The petition had said that as per constitutional conventions and practices, the governor is duty-bound to allow reasonable time for political parties to conclude their negotiation on government formation and not act as an “agent or mouthpiece of the central government”.

The governor has to allow reasonable time to political outfits to present the conclusion of their negotiations before taking a decision to reject any claim to form government, it said.

The Union Cabinet on Tuesday recommended President’s rule in Maharashtra even as top leaders from the NCP, Congress and Shiv Sena held a flurry of consultations in a bid to tot up the numbers and resolve the impasse over government formation in the state since the assembly polls last month. PTI