Governor nominated 12 MLAs case comes up again in HC; Court orders government to clarify role

The decision taken by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led government on September 5, 2022 to withdraw the names of 12 governor-nominated MLAs recommended by the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MAVI) government has been challenged in the High Court through a Public Interest Litigation. The court also took cognizance of this petition on Monday and ordered the state government to explain its role in the matter. Interestingly, the seats of MLAs nominated by the Governor have been lying vacant for the last three years.

The Public Interest Litigation filed by former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray group's Kolhapur city chief Sunil Modi in this case came up for hearing before the bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyay and Justice Arif Doctor on Monday. At that time, the court held the hearing of the case on August 21 and ordered the state government to file a reply on the petition by then.

Earlier, the state's Advocate General Birendra Saraf opposed the plea and claimed that the Cabinet had no obligation to make or withdraw the recommendation. At present there is no recommended list of names before the Governor.

The petitioner cannot demand that the list of recommendations be maintained. Saraf drew the court's attention to the fact that the petitioners did not say that the governor should have taken a decision earlier. The Governor returned a recommended list of names. No list is pending with the Governor as the Government has informed that it is withdrawing it. These are recommendations and are not part of a policy change. The government may change its earlier recommendation. Saraf also claimed that the cabinet cannot be deprived of the right to reconsider after the change of power.

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Meanwhile, after the change of power in June 2022, Chief Minister Shinde's cabinet wrote to the governor and informed that it was withdrawing the recommended list of 12 gubernatorial nominees in the Legislative Council sent by the MVA government. On September 5, 2022, the Governor responded to it and accepted the request of the Shinde government and sent the list sent by the MVA government back to the Chief Minister's Office. 

However, Modi has claimed in a fresh petition that after a long period of one year and 10 months, the Governor has decided on the list sent by the MVA government. In November 2020, the Thackeray-led MIA government had sent a list of 12 names to the Governor for the appointment of 12 nominated MLAs in the Legislative Council. Subsequently, a petition was filed in the High Court in 2020. While giving a decision on it, the Governor had remarked that it is the constitutional duty of the Governor to give a decision on the list of names sent by the government within a specified period and not to keep it pending for an indefinite period.