SC issues notice to Maha Speaker on disqualification petitions against CM Shinde

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday sought response from the office of the Maharashtra legislative assembly speaker on a plea seeking a direction to expeditiously adjudicate the disqualification petitions filed against Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and other Shiv Sena MLAs who had tied up with the BJP to form a new government in June 2022.

A bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud passed the order while hearing a plea filed by Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) MLA Sunil Prabhu, who as the chief whip of the undivided Shiv Sena had in 2022 filed the disqualification petitions against Shinde and other MLAs.

“We will issue notice returnable in two weeks,” the bench, also comprising Justices P S Narasimha and Manoj Misra, said.

In its petition, Shiv Sena (UBT) has accused Speaker Rahul Narwekar of deliberately delaying the adjudication despite the May 11 verdict of the SC to dispose them of within reasonable time.

“The petitioner is constrained to invoke the extraordinary jurisdiction of this court under Article 32 of the Constitution of India, in light of the respondent Speaker’s conduct in choosing to deliberately delay the adjudication of the disqualification petitions filed by the petitioner against the delinquent members of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly,” the petition, filed through advocates Nishanth Patil and Amit Anand Tiwari, said.

It said the speaker, despite the categorical direction of the top court in its May 11 judgment that the pending disqualification petitions must be decided within a reasonable period, has chosen to not conduct a single hearing.

“The petitioner has also sent more than three subsequent representations dated May 15, 2023, May 23, 2023 and June 2, 2023 to convene a hearing in the said disqualification matters, however, the respondent Speaker in brazen disregard to his constitutional duties as a neutral arbiter, has sought to delay the adjudications of the disqualification petitions, thereby, permitting the illegal continuance of Eknath Shinde as CM, against whom the disqualification petitions are pending,” it said.