Supreme Court Asks Maharashtra Speaker To Keep In Abeyance Disqualification Proceedings Against Shiv Sena MLAs

The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Speaker to keep in abeyance the disqualification proceedings initiated against the members of Shiv Sena amid the ongoing political developments in the State.Both the rival camps of Shiv Sena, led by former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and current Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, have initiated disqualification proceedings against the MLAs belonging to the rival camps.Today, when Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal mentioned the petitions filed in relation to Maharashtra political crisis for urgent mentioning, the Chief Justice of India told the Solicitor General, "Mr Mehta, you please inform the Assembly Speaker not to take any hearing. Please inform the speaker through your office. Let us see, we'll hear the matter".SG Tushar Mehta agreed to convey the Chief Justice's message to the Speaker.Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the Uddhav camp, sought for urgent listing of the petitions, saying that the Speaker has kept the disqualification matter for hearing tomorrow. Sibal added that though the matters were directed to be listed today, it has not been listed.The CJI said that listing will take some time as the bench needs to be finalized. Meanwhile, the Speaker should defer the disqualification proceedings."I'm not listing the matter tomorrow. This matter will require constitution of bench and will take some time to be listed.", the CJI said.. The petitions related to the crisis which are pending before the Top Court are: Petition preferred by rebel Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde challenging the disqualification notices issued by the Deputy Speaker and plea filed by Bharat Gogawale and 14 other Shiv Sena MLA's seeking to restrain the Deputy Speaker from taking any action in the disqualification petition until the resolution for removal of Deputy Speaker is decided. On June 27, the division bench of Justices Surya Kant and JB Pardiwala had extended the time for the rebel MLAs to file written responses to the Deputy Speaker's disqualification notice till July 12. Petition filed by Shiv Sena Chief Whip Sunil Prabhu challenging the Maharashtra Governor's direction to the Chief Minister to prove majority of Maha Vikas Aghadi Government. On June 29, the Supreme Court had refused to stall the floor test. After the Court's order, Uddhav Thackeray announced his resignation as the Chief Minister and Eknath Shinde was later sworn-in as the CM.Petition filed by Sunil Prabhu, the whip appointed by Uddhav Thackeray-led group, challenging the action of the newly elected Maharashtra Assembly Speaker recognizing the whip nominated by the Eknath Shinde group as the Chief Whip of Shiv Sena.Petition preferred by Mr. Subhash Desai, the General Secretary of the Shiv Sena assailing the decision of the Maharashtra Governor to invite Eknath Shinde to be the Chief Minister of Maharashtra and challenged the further proceedings of the State's Legislative Assembly held on 03.07.2022 and 04.07.2022 as 'illegal'.

Supreme Court Asks Maharashtra Speaker To Keep In Abeyance Disqualification Proceedings Against Shiv Sena MLAs

Shruti Kakkar

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