Supreme Court: In a significant development in Maharashtra’s political turmoil, the vacation Bench comprising Surya Kant and J.B. Pardiwala, JJ., directed to keep the disqualification proceedings against 16 rebel MLAs in abeyance till 11-07-2022.
However, the Court declined to impose an interim stay on the floor test in the Maharashtra State Legislative Assembly.
Noticeably, Shiv Sena MLA, Eknath Shinde’s rebellion along with several other MLAs has raised several question marks on the sustainability of Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) and has once again thrown the State of Maharashtra into political turmoil.
Amidst this political crisis, the Deputy Speaker of the State Legislative Assembly, Narhari Zirwal had issued a disqualification notice to 16 MLAs including Eknath Shinde which was challenged before the Supreme Court on Sunday.
The rebel MLAs contended that the Deputy Speaker cannot disqualify any member under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution during the pendency of his own removal resolution.[i] Further, the petition also sought an interim stay against the proposed floor test in the Assembly.
The Supreme Court today directed to keep the disqualification proceedings before the Deputy Speaker of the Assembly in abeyance till 11-07-2022. However, the Court declined to impose an interim stay on the floor test in the Legislative Assembly.
Noticing that the time granted by the Deputy Speaker to the petitioners or other similarly placed MLAs to submit their written submissions on the disqualification notice was up to 5.30 P.M., today, the Court, as an interim measure extended the same till 12-07-2022.
Additionally, the Court directed the State Government to ensure that no harm is caused to the lives, liberty, and properties of the 39 rebel MLAs and their families.
The matter is listed on 11-07-2022.
[Eknathrao Sambhaji Shinde v. Deputy Speaker Maharashtra State Legislative Assembly, 2022 SCC OnLine SC 773, decided on 27-06-2022]
Appearance by:
For Petitioner(s): AORs Mr. Abhinay and Mr. Abhikalp Pratap Singh, Senior Advocates Mr. Neeraj Kishanb Kaul, Mr. Siddharth Bhatnagar, Mr. Neeraj Kishanb Kaul, and Siddharth Bhatnagar
Advocates Mr. Chirag Shah, Mr. Utsav Trivedi, Mr. Himanshu Sachdeva, Ms. Manini Roy, Ms. Pracheta kar, Mr. Aditya Sidhra, Mr. Nadeem Afroz, Ms. Shivani Bhushan, Mr. Pooran Chand Roy, Mr. Rakesh Kailash Sharma, Mr. Alok Singh, Mr. Vinay Kumar, Ms. Agam Kaur, Ms. Gunjan Mangla, Ms. Aarzoo Aneja, Mr. Dhruv Sharma, Ms. Ira Majajan and Ms. Aadya Yadav
For Respondent(s): Dr. Rajeev Dhavan, Sr. Adv., Mr. Ravi Shankar J. Sr. Adv., Mr. Amit Pai, AOR, Mr. Rahat Bansal, Adv., Ms. Pankhuri Bbardwaj, Adv., Mr. M.S. Vishnu Sankar, Adv., Mr. Rahul Chitnis, Adv, Mr. Sachil Patil, AOR, Mr. Aaditya A. Pande, Adv., Mr. Geo Joseph, Adv., Ms. Shewtal Shepal, Adv., Mr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Sr. Adv., Mr. Devadatt Kamat, Sr. Adv., Mr. Javedur Rahman, AOR, Mr. Hemant Shah, Adv., Mr. Rajesh Inamdar, Adv., Mr. Amit Bhandari, Adv., Mr. Sunny Jain, Adv., Mr. Azim Sanmel, Adv., Mr. Harsh Pande, Adv., Mr. Tushar Mehta, SG, Mr. Rajat Nair, Adv., Mr. Arvind Kumar Sharma, AOR, Mr. Pradeep Kumar Yadav, Adv., Mr. Vishal Thakre, Adv., Mr. Sanjeev Malhotra, AOR
Kamini Sharma, Editorial Assistant has put this report together