Uddhav Thackeray faction moves Supreme Court seeking directions to Maharashtra Speaker to decide disqualification petitions against MLAs

The Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena has moved the Supreme Court seeking directions to the Speaker of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly to expeditiously decide on disqualification petitions pending against MLAs belonging to the Chief Minister Eknath Shinde faction as well as the Thackeray faction..The plea has been filed at a time when Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader, Ajit Pawar and eight Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs), including Praful Patel and Chhagan Bhujbal, joined the Shinde government. .The plea before the Supreme Court was filed by Sunil Prabhu, an MLA from the Shiv Sena (Uddhav faction).In his plea, Prabhu has highlighted that a Supreme Court constitution bench had earlier, on May 11, directed the Speaker to decide on the pending disqualification petitions within a reasonable period. However, no such step has yet been taken, Prabhu submitted. .As per the plea, the constitutional requirement of fairness enjoins upon the Speaker the obligation to decide on the question of disqualification in an expeditious manner. "Any unreasonable delay on the part of the Speaker in deciding the petitions for disqualification contributes to and perpetuates the constitutional sin of defection committed by the delinquent members ... the delinquent MLAs against whom disqualification petitions are pending have committed brazenly unconstitutional acts which per se invite disqualification under Paras 2(1)(a), 2(1)(b), and 2(2) of the Tenth Schedule," the plea said. .Prabhu further contended that the Speaker’s inaction in deciding the disqualification proceedings "is an act of grave constitutional impropriety as his inaction is allowing MLAs who are liable to be disqualified to continue in the assembly and to hold responsible positions in the government of Maharashtra including that of the Chief Minister." .The Supreme Court's May 11 judgment came in a case that had its genesis in the split of the Shiv Sena political party into two factions. One faction was led by Thackeray and the other by Shinde, who went on to replace Thackeray as Maharashtra's Chief Minister after the split in June 2022.Following the split, rebel MLAs of the Shinde faction received disqualification notices from the then Deputy Speaker for acting against the party whip while voting in the Member of Legislative Council (MLC) elections in the State.The Supreme Court was called to consider whether rebel members should be disqualified. On June 27, 2022, the Court granted interim relief to Shinde and his rebel group of MLAs by extending the time to file responses to the disqualification notices sent by the Deputy Speaker, till July 12.Subsequently, the Court on June 29, 2022, also gave the go-ahead to a floor test called for by Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari.This led to the fall of the Thackeray government, following which Shinde took oath as Chief Minister with the backing of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the single largest party in the House.Nearly a year later, a five-judge constitution bench of the Supreme Court headed by CJI DY Chandrachud held that the decision of former Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari's decision to call for a floor test based on the request of 34 MLAs of the Eknath Shinde faction was incorrect. The Court held that Koshyari did not have enough objective material before him to conclude that the then Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had lost the confidence of the house.However, the Court further noted that the status quo could not be restored since Thackeray did not face the floor test but chose to resign.All the same, the Court directed the Speaker of the Maharashtra legislative assembly, Rahul Narwekar to decide on the pending disqualification petitions against MLAs belonging to Eknath Shinde and Uddhav Thackeray factions of Shiv Sena.The Court observed that the Speaker of the legislative assembly is the appropriate constitutional authority to decide the disqualification petitions within a reasonable period.Pertinently, the apex court also enlisted factors for Narwekar's consideration to decide on the disqualification petitions..The instant plea has been filed through advocate Nishanth Patil, drawn by advocates Rohit Sharma, Nikhil Purohit and Jatin Lalwani, and settled by Senior Advocate Devadatt Kamat.