Supreme Court directs Maharashtra speaker to decide disqualification of Shiv Sena MLAs by December 31, NCP MLAs by January 31

The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Speaker of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly to rule on the disqualification proceedings against rebel members of the erstwhile Shiv Sena party by December 31, 2023 and against NCP MLAs by January 24, 2024. [Sunil Prabhu v. The Speaker, Maharashtra State Legislative Assembly].An affidavit filed by the Maharashtra legislative secretariat stated that due to the upcoming Diwali vacations and winter session of the assembly, the proceedings under the 10th schedule of the Indian Constitution would be decided on February 29, 2024..A bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud with Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra however took the view that procedural wranglings could not lead to delay in deciding the petitions.."We have repeatedly granted time to speaker to complete proceedings under the 10th schedule, now an affidavit has been filed by the Maharashtra legislative secretariat. It says there are two groups of disqualification petitions - one of shiv sena and one of NCP. The affidavit says the secretariat will be closed during Diwali vacations and the winter session of assembly will be in Nagpur. We are of the view that procedural wranglings cannot lead to delay in decision of disqualification petitions," the Court said..The Court was hearing a plea to expeditiously decide disqualification petitions pending against rebel Shiv Sena legislators.The Supreme Court had earlier this month pulled up the Speaker of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly for the delay in deciding on the matter. The bench had that the proceedings cannot go on till they become infructuous.The Court had asked Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta and Maharashtra Advocate General Dr Birendra Saraf to advise the Speaker to set a timeline, failing which the same would be set by the bench.Further, the Speaker was urged to hold day-to-day proceedings in the matter and complete it soon. Last month, the Supreme Court had directed the Speaker to issue procedural directions and timelines..The plea by Sunil Prabhu was filed soon after Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar and eight MLAs, including Praful Patel and Chhagan Bhujbal, joined the Eknath Shinde faction.In his plea, Prabhu highlighted that a Supreme Court Constitution Bench had, on May 11 this year, directed the Speaker to decide the pending disqualification petitions within a reasonable period. However, no such step has yet been taken, he submitted. As per the plea, the constitutional requirement of fairness requires the Speaker to decide on the question of disqualification in an expeditious manner. Prabhu further contended that the Speaker’s inaction in deciding the disqualification proceedings "is an act of grave constitutional impropriety.“