SC tells Maharashtra Speaker to fix timeline for hearing disqualification pleas against CM, MLAs

The Supreme Court on Monday gave Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar one week to fix a timeline to begin hearing petitions seeking disqualification of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and other Shiv Sena MLAs accused of defection, reported The Indian Express.

Nationalist Congress Party leader Narhari Zirwal, who was the Deputy Speaker in June last year, had initiated disqualification proceedings against Shinde and other Shiv Sena MLAs who had rebelled against party chief Uddhav Thackeray.

Shinde and 15 other MLAs filed a separate petition challenging disqualification notices that Zirwal sent to them. Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) MP Sunil Prabhu then filed an interlocutory application seeking quick disposal of the cases.

On May 11, a five-judge bench had directed the Maharashtra Speaker to hear and decide the disqualification petitions within a “reasonable time”, reported The Hindu.

On Monday, a bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra noted that Narwekar has not taken any decision regarding the disqualification.

“He can’t do this...It appears that nothing has happened except a letter to the Election Commission…. What is the Speaker proposing to do?” the court asked. “He must sit down and decide those petitions now. We didn’t set a time schedule for him...but equally then the Speaker has to abide by the dignity of the Supreme...

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