Sena row: SC sets deadlines for Rahul Narwekar to decide disqualification pleas

Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar at Vidhan Bhavan. Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi

Observing that the sanctity of the 10th Schedule of the Constitution should be maintained, the Supreme Court on Monday directed Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar to decide the cross-petitions filed by the rival factions of the Shiv Sena seeking disqualification of each other's MLAs by December 31.

A bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud said procedural wranglings should not be permitted to delay a decision on the disqualification petitions. The top court also asked the speaker to decide the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) petition seeking the disqualification of nine MLAs of the Ajit Pawar group by January 31, 2024.

"We are concerned that the sanctity of the 10th Schedule must be maintained. Otherwise, we are throwing these provisions to the wind," it said. The 10th Schedule of the Constitution is designed to prevent the defection of elected and nominated members of Parliament and state legislatures from their political parties and contains stringent provisions against it.

"Procedural wranglings should not be permitted to delay the petitions. We direct that proceedings shall be concluded and directions passed by December 31, 2023," the bench, also comprising Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, said. At the outset, the bench voiced displeasure when Solicitor General Tushar Mehta informed it that the speaker required time till February 29, 2024, to decide the disqualification petitions filed by the Uddhav Thackeray and Eknath Shinde factions of the Shiv Sena.

Mehta submitted it would be unrealistic to expect a decision before January 31 due to the Diwali vacations and the Winter Session of the Assembly. "Kindly list it in January and see the progress," he urged the bench. "Mr Solicitor, we don't want these proceedings to keep wrangling till elections are announced," the court told him. Mehta responded, saying there was no difficulty in deciding the petitions except for Diwali and the Assembly session.

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the Ajit Pawar group, opposed setting a deadline for deciding the NCP petitions, saying they were filed in July and September this year. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing the Sharad Pawar bloc, said only the petitions filed against nine NCP MLAs in July this year be considered at this stage.

The bench then said in its order, "We have to give some reasonable time. We have given speaker till December for group A (Shiv Sena) and by January 31, 2024 for NCP." The delay in deciding the petitions against CM Eknath Shinde and Shiv Sena MLAs loyal to him had come under strict scrutiny by the apex court which came down hard on the speaker at the last hearing, saying the proceedings cannot be reduced to a charade and that he cannot "defeat" its orders.

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No of NCP MLAs against whom pleas have been filed

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