A Constitution bench of the Supreme Court has granted four weeks time to the two factions of the Shiv Sena led by Uddhav Thackeray and Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde to file their compilations of arguments, index, case law references, etc.
When the matter was taken up on Tuesday by a five-judge bench comprising Justices DY Chandrachud, MR Shah, Krishna Murari, Hima Kohli, and PS Narasimha, Justice Chandrachud asked for compilations of pleadings and case laws to help the court.
“Idea is to facilitate us when we have to write a judgement. Written submissions help us a great deal”, the bench remarked.
The court added that after the submissions are filed, it would list the case for directions and, after that, for final hearing.
Furthermore, advocates Javed Ur Rehman and Chirag Shah have been asked to act as nodal counsel for facilitating the process.
“After the above proceedings are carried out, the matter will be listed for directions. We will give a date. We will begin final hearing shortly thereafter…” ordered the bench.
The court has now listed the case for November 29, 2022.
Senior advocates Kapil Sibal, Devadatt Kamat, and AM Singhvi appeared for the petitioners whereas senior advocate Neeraj Kishan Kaul appeared on behalf of the respondents.
In June, Eknath Shinde had moved the Supreme Court asking for a direction to the deputy speaker to not take any action in the petition moved by Shiv Sena seeking the disqualification of Shinde and other MLAs.
A vacation bench of Justices Surya Kant and Pardiwala had extended the time granted by the deputy speaker to Eknath Shinde and other MLAs to file their response in their disqualification petition.
Sunil Prabhu, the erstwhile chief whip of the Shiv Sena and a Member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly had moved the Supreme Court under Article 32 of the Constitution, challenging the governor’s communication to hold a floor test on June 30, 2022. The Supreme Court, however, refused to stay the floor test in Maharashtra.
After the hearing in the SC on June 29, 2022, Bharat Gogawale, the Shiv Sena MLA from Mahad, filed an application seeking to suspend Eknath Shinde and other “delinquent MLAs” from the membership of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, as an interim measure, till their disqualification petitions are finally decided. The vacation bench, however, refused the urgent listing of the plea.
Shinde took oath as the chief minister of Maharashtra on June 30, 2022. Subsequently, on July 3, a floor test was conducted and he emerged successful. His camp moved a plea for the disqualification of Shiv Sena MLAs, who did not vote for Shinde in the floor test.
On July 11, 2022, Supreme Court orally asked the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Speaker to not decide matters pertaining to the disqualification of the MLAs till the petitions filed by the delinquent legislators of Shiv Sena challenging the disqualification proceedings are pending before the apex court. The Uddhav camp has also challenged the decision of the governor to appoint Shinde as the chief minister.
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