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A Supreme Court bench of Justices Khanwilkar and Ravikumar set aside an order of the Maharashtra Legislative assembly suspending 12 MLAs belonging to the Bharatiya Janata Party for a period of one year. In the oral pronouncement of the judgment, the court noted that the order of the assembly is “unconstitutional & arbitrary”. The court further held that  suspension could have only been for the ongoing session and not for a year.

These petitions have been filed challenging the suspension of 12 BJP MLAs - Sanjay Kute, Ashish Shelar, Abhimanyu Pawar, Girish Mahajan, Atul Bhatkalkar, Parag Alavni, Harish Pimpale, Ram Satpute, Vijay Kumar Rawal, Yogesh Sagar, Narayan Kuche and Kirtikumar Bangdia, stating that under the Maharashtra Legislative Council Rules, Rule 59, the Speaker has the sole right to suspend members on the ground of unruly behavior, however, in this case, the suspension has taken place after a resolution of the Assembly. 

On January 20, the Supreme Court on reserved order in the plea filed by Bhartiya Janta Party MLA's challenging the resolution passed by the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly suspending the BJP MLA's for a period of one year over alleged misbehavior with the presiding officer.

A bench of Justice AM Khanwilkar, Justice Dinesh Maheshwari and Justice CT Ravikumar noted, "suspending, it has to be with the intention to discipline."

Earlier, the State of Maharastra had concluded arguments in Supreme Court put forth by Senior Advocate CA Sundaram stating that  that there is no absolute power with the privilege committee, it is bound by the constitution and the law made by parliament.

This will be updated once a detailed order is uploaded. 

Cause Title: Ashish Shelar and Ors. vs Maharashtra Legislative Assembly