Following the Supreme Court’s decision to defer referring cases related to the Maharashtra political crisis of last year to a seven-judge bench, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Friday asserted that the top court will give a verdict based on merit, reported ANI.
The Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena chief also defended his decision to join the BJP, saying that “we formed the government following the Constitution”.
“A majority is cardinal in democracy. We have formed the government based on the majority and adhere to the rules, and laws of the Constitution. That is why this government in the state is working for the welfare of the people, taking important decisions for the benefit of the people and that is why we expect the judiciary to take decisions on merit,” Shinde told reporters.
The CM further alleged that the Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena faction wanted a larger bench to hear the matter to prolong the case.
Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis also said that the party is satisfied with the top court’s decision, and said that the case must be heard on merit.
“The demand to send the case to a seven-judge constitution bench just to rehear the Nabam Rebia case was not right. The court has said that we will hear the case on merit. We also felt that Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena was implementing a policy of taking time. That is why they demanded a larger Constitution bench. But now that is not the case. A regular hearing will be held and the final verdict will come soon. We are satisfied with today’s decision,” he said, as quoted by ANI.
Truth will prevail: Sanjay Raut
Meanwhile, Sanjay Raut, Shiv Sena leader from the Uddhav Thackeray faction, said that “truth will prevail” when the Supreme Court will hear the matter on Tuesday.
“Governments and political parties cannot be destabilised through use of power and money. We want a clean political system,” he said.
A five-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court led by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud on Friday declined to refer pleas related to the Maharashtra political crisis to a seven-judge bench for reconsideration of the 2016 Nabam Rebia judgement.
The bench, also comprising justices M R Shah, Krishna Murari, Hima Kohli and P S Narasimha, said whether the 2016 judgement requires reference or not will be considered with the merits of the case on February 21. It said that the issue of referring to a larger bench cannot be considered in an “abstract, isolated and divorced” manner.
In 2016, a five-judge Constitution bench, while deciding the Nabam Rebia case of Arunachal Pradesh, had held that the assembly speaker cannot proceed with a plea for disqualification of MLAs if a prior notice seeking the speaker’s removal is pending before the House.
Maharashtra political crisis in 2022
On June 29 last year, after an open revolt by Shiv Sena MLAs, which triggered a political crisis in Maharashtra toppling the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, the apex court refused to stay the Maharashtra governor’s direction to the 31-month-old MVA government to take a floor test in the assembly to prove its majority. Former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had resigned before the floor test.
A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court in August last year which was headed by then CJI NV Ramana had formulated several questions of law and referred to the five-judge bench petitions filed by the two Sena factions. The batch of petitions raised important constitutional issues related to the 10th Schedule of the Constitution pertaining to disqualification, powers of the speaker and governor, and judicial review.
The top court had said that the proposition of law laid down by the Constitution bench in the 2016 Nabam Rebia case stands on a contradictory reasoning which requires gap filling to uphold constitutional morality.