Shiv Sena's Thackeray Faction Moves Supreme Court Over Disqualification Pleas Against Eknath Shinde Camp

The Shiv Sena (UBT) has approached the Supreme Court to seek directions to the Maharashtra Assembly Speaker for speedy adjudication of disqualification petitions against Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and MLAs loyal to him. 

Sena's Thackeray faction MLA Sunil Prabhu has filed the disqualification plea in 2022 as the party's chief whip. He alleged in the plea before the Supreme Court that Speaker Rahul Narwekar is deliberately delaying the adjudication despite the May 11 SC order.

"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 plea filed through advocate Nishanth Patil and Amit Anand Tiwari said, as per PTI.

The plea said that Narwekar, despite the categorical direction of SC 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 Chief Minister, against whom the disqualification petitions are pending," PTI quoted the Plea as saying.

Prabhu, in his petition said, "Therefore, it is imperative for this court to direct the Speaker, Maharashtra legislative assembly, to decide the disqualification petitions filed by the petitioner against delinquent members of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly expeditiously, within a time-bound manner."

Prabhu sought direction to the speaker to decide the disqualification petitions dated June 23, 2022, June 25, 2022, June 27, 2022, July 3, 2022, and July 5, 2022 filed by him under provisions of the 10th schedule against the MLAs loyal to Shinde expeditiously and in a time-bound manner, preferably within a period of two weeks, according to PTI.

In 2022, Shinde rebelled along with the majority of Sena MLAs and split the party into two. The rebellion toppled the government of Thackeray and Shinde took over as the Chief Minister with the support of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). After Shinde's rebellion against the party's Thackeray-led central leadership, petitions for his and loyalist MLAs were filed. These pleas are pending.

In his plea, Prabhu said it is a settled law that the Speaker, while performing his functions under the 10th schedule, which deals with the anti-defection law, acts as a judicial tribunal, and is required to act in a fair and unbiased manner, reported PTI.

Prabhu said in the present case, 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 10th Schedule, according to PTI.

On May 11, the Supreme Court had ruled that Shinde will continue to be the Chief Minister of Maharashtra as it cannot reinstate the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition government headed by Thackeray of Sena, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), and Congress, since the Shiv Sena leader chose to resign without facing a floor test.

While the unanimous SC verdict came as a relief for Shinde, it censured former Maharashtra governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari over his decision calling upon Thackeray to prove his majority in the assembly based on a request by the Shinde faction of the Sena, noted PTI.