Uddhav faction to seek adjudication of cases by 7-judge bench on January 10

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday was apprised by the Uddhav Thackeray Shiv Sena faction that it will seek reference of cases related to the Maharashtra political crisis to a seven-judge bench to have a relook of a 2016 judgment on powers of assembly speakers to deal with disqualification pleas.

In 2016, a five-judge constitution bench, while deciding the Nabam Rebia case, had held that the assembly speaker cannot proceed with a plea for disqualification of MLAs if a prior notice seeking removal of the speaker is pending decision in the House.

This decision had come to the rescue of rebel MLAs led by Eknath Shinde, now the chief minister of Maharashtra, in the apex court on the ground of pendency of a notice for removal of assembly deputy speaker Narhari Sitaram Zariwal.

A five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, while hearing a batch of pleas related to the Maharashtra political crisis triggered by the Shiv Sena's division, was told by senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the Thackeray faction, that he will be seeking reference of matters to a seven-judge bench to have a relook of the 2016 judgment in the Nabam Rebia case.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Maharashtra governor, said he would also like to submit a note on broader issues including the pre-poll alliance.

Earlier this year, the Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in the state that comprised the Shiv Sena, the NCP and the Congress collapsed after Sena MLA Shinde and 39 other legislators rebelled against the party's leadership. This later led to the division in the Shiv Sena with one faction headed by Thackeray and the other by Shinde.

"Kapil Sibal, senior counsel, submits that when the matter is taken up for hearing, he would be arguing for a reference of the correctness of the view of the constitution bench in the Nabam Rebia case... to a seven-judge constitution bench. It has been agreed that Sibal shall circulate a brief note of his submission on the proposed reference to a seven-judge bench that he would seek," the bench said.