On Monday, July 11, a three-judge Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) NV Ramana asked the recently elected Maharashtra Assembly to not proceed with the plea seeking disqualification of Shiv Sena MLAs, reports stated.
Based on accounts, the bench also entailed Justice Krishna Murari and Hima Kohli. They took cognizance of the submissions by senior lawyers headed by Kapil Sibal that many pleas of former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's faction were slated to be listed on Monday in accordance with the directives of two vacation benches. However, they were not on the cause list.
According to narratives, CJI Ramana reportedly apprised Sibal that the listing will take time since the bench is not finalised. He added that the matter will be listed after Tuesday, July 12 once he sets up the bench.
Sibal was quoted in reports elaborating on how he urged that there should not be disqualification till the matter is decided there. He highlighted that the apex court had last month protected the rebel MLAs when they approached it. He articulated that the disqualification petition is listed before the Speaker on Tuesday.
Further, the bench informed the Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appearing for the Governor to inform the assembly speaker to not take any hearing since they will hear the matter.
It has been reported that petitions from both sides are pending before the apex court, with the majority of them from Thackeray. These entail a petition by current state chief minister Eknath Shinde challenging the disqualification notices issued by the Deputy Speaker. It also includes a petition by Shiv Sena's Sunil Prabhu challenging the governor's direction to Thackeray to prove the majority.
Another petition reportedly pending is one filed by Prabhu, challenging the action of the newly elected assembly speaker recognising the whip nominated by Shinde's faction as the Shiv Sena's chief whip. Prabhu had moved to the apex court, after Shinde was sworn in as the CM, seeking his suspension as well as that of the 15 rebel MLAs on various grounds. Moreover, a petition is also filed by Shiv Sena general secretary Subhash Desai against the governor's decision to invite Shinde to be Maharashtra CM, narratives cited.
In addition to this, Thackeray's faction also challenged the assembly proceeding's (held on July 3 - 4) validity wherein a new speaker of the house was elected and the floor test wherein Shinde's faction proved its majority.
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