Read Time: 05 minutes

Synopsis

Supreme Court has directed to list the petition filed by Sharad Pawar led faction of the Nationalist Congress Party to direct the Maharashtra Speaker to decide the disqualification petitions filed by it against the Ajit Pawar led faction on Friday.

When the matter was taken up, CJI Chandrachud said, "We had asked the Speaker to put up a schedule for these pleas..we will list the Shiv Sena one and this together on Friday..".

Notably, the CJI was referring to the Supreme Court's earlier order passed in September 2023, saying that that the disqualification petitions against Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde and rebel MLA's should be taken up within a week, wherein Speaker of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly will decide a time schedule for wrapping them up. 

Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the Ajit Pawar led faction, told the bench that this was a different case, unrelated to the Shiv Sena rift. 

"Disqualification petitions were filed in September..they are here now in October", Rohatgi added.

"We filed our first plea in July, but notice was never issued..", submitted Senior Counsel Kapil Sibal in response.

The bench comprising Justices Pardiwala and Manoj Misra went on to issue notice on the plea filed by NCP's Jayant Patil.

In July, the Supreme Court had issued notice in the plea filed by Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena seeking a direction to the Maharashtra Assembly Speaker to decide the pending disqualification petitions against Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and other MLAs in a time bound manner, preferably within two weeks.

The plea claimed in the present case, the delinquent MLAs against whom disqualification petitions are pending have committed brazenly unconstitutional acts which per se invited disqualification under Paras 2(1)(a), 2(1)(b), and 2(2) of the Tenth Schedule. 

"Therefore, the Speaker’s inaction in deciding the disqualification proceedings is an act of grave constitutional impropriety as his inaction is allowing MLAs who are liable to be disqualified to continue in the assembly and to hold responsible positions in the government of Maharashtra including that of the Chief Minister," it said.

The Supreme Court, by its order on June 27, 2022, granted time to the petitioners therein (Eknath Shinde and Bharat Gogawale) and other similarly situated MLAs to file their replies by July, 2022. 

However, as no reply has been filed till date, the right to file their replies in these 16 petitions stands closed, the plea contended.

Case Title: Jayant Patil vs. Speaker, Maharashtra Legislative Assembly