Narhari Zirwal told the apex court that the notice seeking his removal was not a valid under Article 179(C) of the Constitution as such a notice can only be given when the Assembly is in session
Deputy Speaker of Maharashtra Narhari Sitaram Zirwal. Pic/PTI
Maharashtra Assembly Deputy Speaker Narhari Zirwal has told the Supreme Court that he did not take action on a notice, allegedly sent by rebel Shiv Sena MLAs headed by Eknath Shinde, seeking his removal as deputy speaker as the veracity of the communication could not be ascertained.
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He also told the apex court that the notice seeking his removal was not a valid under Article 179(C) of the Constitution as such a notice can only be given when the Assembly is in session.
The submission was made in response to a plea filed by Shinde and others challenging the disqualification notices issued by the Deputy Speaker under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution on grounds including defection.
The Deputy Speaker said the notice seeking his removal, which was allegedly signed by 39 MLAs, was handed over to the office by an unknown person and an email was sent from the address of advocate Vishal Acharya, who is not a member of the Legislative Assembly.
"As the master of House, it was my duty to verify and ascertain the authenticity as well as genuineness of the purported notice seeking my removal. This is particularly more relevant when only the previous day some MLAs from Shiv Sena had met me personally for recognition of Ajay Chaudhari as the legislature party leader," the affidavit filed by the Deputy Speaker said.
Zirwal told the top court that unless he was satisfied that this was not a "mischief" by someone "I was duty-bound and entitled to take a view. There was no question of taking the same on record."
The Deputy Speaker also stated the Nabam Rabia judgement was not applicable to the present case as there was no valid notice for removal as contemplated under Article 179(C) of the Constitution.
On the issue of granting only 48 hours to rebel MLAs to respond to disqualification notice, the Deputy Speaker said there was no illegality in it and the timeline for filing of reply is purely discretionary.
"There is absolutely no illegality in 48 hours being given to the Petitioners to respond to the disqualification petitions. First of all 48 hours' notice was given in the first instance. The Petitioner never approached me and sought time. That apart, this Hon'ble Court in Shrimant Balasaheb apart from holding that the timeline for filing of reply is purely discretionary, has categorically also held that the number of days is immaterial and what matters is whether the respondent has been given sufficient and reasonable time to file their replies," the affidavit said.
The top court on June 27 had kept in abeyance the disqualification proceedings before the Deputy Speaker of the state Assembly till July 11, and also sought responses from the state government and others on their pleas questioning the legality of notices seeking their disqualification.
Directing the then Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government to protect the life, liberty, and property of the 39 rebel Shiv Sena MLAs, headed by Shinde, and their family members, the top court said the rebels may file replies to the disqualification notices till 5:30 pm on July 12.
Besides Shinde, the other 15 MLAs are Bharat Gogawale, Prakash R Surve, Tanhaji Jaywant Savant, Mahesh S Shinde, Abdul Sattar, Sandeepan A Bhumre, Sanjay P Sirhsat, Yamini Y Jadhav, Anil K Babar, Latabai C Sonawane, Ramesh N Bornare, Sanjay B Raimulkar, Chimanrao R Patil, Balaji D Kalyankar and Balaji P Kinilkar.
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