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Synopsis

The Bombay High Court last week directed the Maharashtra government to refrain from disbursing any remaining amount from the Maharashtra Local Development (MLD) funds for the financial year 2022-23 to Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) until further notice.

"At this stage, Mr. More learned AGP has stated that the entire amount for the financial year is already disbursed. We record the statement. However, in the event some amounts are yet to be disbursed, they shall not be disbursed till further orders," court ordered.

The decision came from a bench of Justices GS Kulkarni and RN Laddha in a petition filed by MLA Ravindra Waikar belonging to the Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena, who sought equal allocation of MLD funds to all MLAs without any discrimination on the basis of political affiliations.

During the hearing, Advocate Satish Borulkar, representing the petitioner, informed the Court that the government had sought time to take instructions and file its reply when the petition was first heard on February 17, however, large amounts were disbursed from the funds to the MLAs since then, which the petitioner claimed were being allocated in a discriminatory manner, contrary to the public interest.

Borulkar further argued that there must be a fair distribution of the MLD funds as they are ultimately public funds meant for public benefit.

The court asked additional government pleader Milind More to respond to the contentions raised by the petitioner.

Court also directed the State to provide an affidavit detailing the amounts that have been disbursed from the MLD funds since February 17 and their allocation based on elected representatives of different constituencies.

During the hearing, More informed the court that the amounts for the financial year 2022-23 had already been disbursed. Court recorded this statement but ordered the State to refrain from any further disbursement in case any amounts were still remaining.

The plea stated that more than 45000 crores were allocated by the state government through different authorities. It further stated that the majority of the funds were allocated to MLAs from Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) and Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena. 

Through his plea, the MLA sought direction for quashing and setting aside the allocation of funds by the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority and pleaded that the court issue directions to the authorities to allocate the funds without discriminating between the MLA and MLC.

The petition filed through Advocate Sidhasen Borulkar also stated that Ravindra Waikar's constituency itself has a lot of slums but he and other members of his party are not being allocated such funds.

The plea further stated that the state is expected to act with the principle of equality.

"The Petitioner states that the members of opposition parties and citizens within their constituencies have legitimate expectation to be treated similarly because the State is expected to act with the principle of equality. The public interest demands that the State's action has to be complied with the legitimate expectation of the Citizens of the City of Mumbai. The Citizens who expected that they should be given civic amenities equal to those who are residing within the Constituency of Members of the Ruling Party,"  the plea read.

Case Title: Ravindra Dattaram Waikar vs State of Maharashtra & Ors.