AMN / NEW DELHI
In a big relief to Shinde govt in Maharashtra, Supreme Court today ruled that Maha Vikas Aghadi government could not be restored as Uddhav Thackeray resigned voluntarily
The apex court said as Mr Thackeray did not face the floor test and tendered his resignation, hence the Governor was justified in administering the oath to Mr Eknath Shinde with the support of the largest party BJP.
The apex court was delivering its judgment in the case of the defection of 16 MLAs in June 2022 from the then Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena.
The Thackeray faction had sought disqualification of the MLAs under the anti-defection law of the country.
The Supreme Court also referred its 2016 judgment in the Nabam Rebia case to a larger bench. The verdict was delivered by a five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and comprised of Justices MR Shah, Krishna Murari, Hima Kohli and PS Narasimha.
The five-judge bench delivered the judgement on a batch of cross-petitions filed by Uddhav Thackeray and chief minister Eknath Shinde factions on the Maharashtra political crisis.
The Supreme Court said that a Floor Test cannot be used as a medium to settle inter and intra-party disputes.
The Nabam Rebia judgment had held that Speakers cannot issue disqualification notices when a notice seeking their removal is pending.
The Supreme Court also said the Speaker if he finds that the motion for his removal is not as per procedure, then he could proceed with the petitions seeking disqualification of the MLAs.
The apex court held that the Speaker’s decision to appoint Bharat Gogawale (Eknath Shinde) as the whip of the Shiv Sena party was illegal. The top court said that the Speaker should recognize only the whip appointed by the political party.
The judgment was delivered by a five-judge bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices MR Shah, Justice Krishna Murari, Justice Hima Kohli, and PS Narasimha.
The five-judge bench delivered the judgment on a batch of cross-petitions filed by Uddhav Thackeray and chief minister M Eknath Shinde factions on the Maharashtra political crisis.
The then-governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari’s decision to invite Shinde to form the government along with the Bharatiya Janata Party after Thackeray chose to resign.
The court had earlier reserved the order after all the parties concluded their arguments.