New Delhi: The MLAs of the Uddhav Thackeray faction of Shiv Sena have filed a fresh plea in the Supreme Court challenging the disqualification proceedings initiated against them under the constitutional scheme and on Monday sought its hearing with other pending pleas on July 20.
A bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana agreed for its hearing alongside the other five pending pleas.
The bench, also comprising justices Krishna Murari and Hima Kohli is already scheduled to hear on Wednesday as many as five pending pleas about the recent political crisis in Maharashtra that led to the fall of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in the state. The turmoil began with a rebellion in the Shiv Sena following which Uddhav Thackeray resigned as chief minister on June 29. A day later, rebel Sena leader Eknath Shinde took an oath as chief minister with the BJP supporting his faction.
The fresh sixth plea was mentioned before the bench by senior advocate Devdatt Kamat. "Maharashtra matters are listed on Wednesday. I request for tagging the same along with them," Kamat said.
The CJI said, "Okay, tag it with them.
The CJI-led bench, on July 11, had granted interim relief to the Uddhav Thackeray faction MLAs by asking Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar not to proceed with the plea seeking their disqualification as sought by the Shinde group on the ground of defying the party whip during the trust vote and the election of the speaker.
The top court seized of five petitions and the first one was filed by the Shinde faction during the summer vacation when some rebel Sena MLAs moved before it challenging the disqualification proceedings initiated by the deputy speaker.