The Supreme Court on Monday (September 18) gave Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar a week’s time to open disqualification proceedings against Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and other MLAs accused of defection.
A three-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud said four months have passed since the Speaker was entrusted the task by a Constitution Bench on May 11. The proceedings had hardly moved all this time.
The court had expected the Maharashtra Speaker to show “deference and dignity” to the court’s direction that he should decide the disqualification petitions within a “reasonable time”.
In its order on Monday, the court directed the Speaker to list the disqualification petitions no later than a week, ensure the case record is ready and chalk out a time schedule for the completion of the hearing and pronouncement of his decision.
“The order of the Supreme Court requires the Speaker to decide the disqualification petitions within a reasonable period. While this court is cognisant of a need to ensure a sense of comity between the Speaker, who is the head of the Legislature Assembly, we would equally expect deference and dignity to be shown to the direction which have been issued by the Supreme Court in exercise of its constitutional power of judicial review,” a three-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud said in the order.
The court listed the case after two weeks. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Speaker, was directed to produce in court the time schedule.
On May 11, a five-judge Bench had directed the Maharashtra Speaker, in his capacity as tribunal under the Tenth Schedule (anti-defection law) of the Constitution, to hear and decide the disqualification petitions within a “reasonable time”.
In his petition, Uddhav Thackeray loyalist Sunil Prabhu, represented by senior advocate Kapil Sibal and advocates Amit Anand Tiwari and Nishant Patil, said the Supreme Court, in its May 11 judgment on the Thackeray-Shinde battle for control over Shiv Sena, had placed its hopes in Mr. Narwekar to impartially hear and decide the anti-defection proceedings against the Mr. Shinde camp.
“The Speaker is the appropriate authority to adjudicate petitions for disqualification under the Tenth Schedule (anti-defection law)... The Speaker embodies propriety and impartiality and that it was therefore inappropriate to express distrust in the office of the Speaker,” the May 11 judgment had observed.
“Four months have passed since the judgment. It has become a complete farce. There is a serious problem... We gave the Speaker representations on three occasions after May 11 — on May 15, May 23 and June 2. Till date only notice has been issued in the disqualification proceedings,” Mr. Sibal said.
A total of 56 MLAs are facing disqualification under the Tenth Schedule. There are 34 disqualification petitions pending, waiting for Speaker Narwekar to hear and decide.
Mr. Sibal said the Speaker had held a hearing on September 14, knowing that the case was listed before the Supreme Court on September 18. In the September 14 order, the Speaker said the hearing would come up again in “due course”.
The senior lawyer reminded the Supreme Court of Justice (retired) Rohinton F. Nariman’s January 2020 judgment in the Keisham Meghachandra Singh case which gave Speakers three months to decide the disqualification petitions. Justice Nariman had said three months was reasonable if not ample time.
“He cannot say ‘in due course’. He has to take up the matter immediately… What did the Speaker do after our direction on May 11? The Speaker is a tribunal under the Tenth Schedule. As a tribunal, he is amenable to our judicial review… As a tribunal, he has to abide by our orders passed after judicial review… Four months have passed, and he is still in the stage of issuing notices?” Chief Justice Chandrachud asked Mr. Mehta.
