Uddhav Thackeray moves Supreme Court against Governor's decision inviting Eknath Shinde to form government

A vacation bench of Justices Indira Banerjee and J K Maheshwari said it will be listed before an appropriate bench on July 11

The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena on Friday approached the Supreme Court, challenging validity of the Maharashtra Governor's "illegal, unconstitutional and arbitrary" decision to invite rebel Eknath Shinde to be sworn in as Chief Minister and the Assembly proceedings conducted on July 3 and 4.

Shinde had won the vote of confidence vote supported by the BJP.

The plea also said since certain members have submitted a notice to the Principal Secretary on July 3 for the removal of newly appointed Speaker Rahul Narwekar under Article 179 (c) of the Constitution, the top court as final arbiter of the Constitution, should in the interest of justice decide the disqualification petitions against 39 MLAs in the present case.

In a writ petition, the party's general secretary Subhash Desai contended that the Constitution prohibited recognition of rebel MLAs of a political party under Tenth Schedule, and the action of the Governor legitimised what is expressly prohibited.

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"The Governor has sought to recognise what the Constitution prohibits. The Governor is also not empowered under law to recognise “Who is the Shiv Sena”? That is the domain of the Election Commission," it said.

The plea was mentioned by senior advocate Devadutt Kamat before a bench of Justices Indira Banerjee and J K Maheshwari which put it for consideration on July 11, along with other connected petitions, including the one by Shinde and others questioning the disqualification notice issued against them.

In its plea, the party said, "Governor cannot recognise the rebel MLAs of political parties as that would ring a death knell on the working of a multi-party democracy."

In the present case, the Speaker was elected with an electorate comprising of 39 MLAs of the Shiv Sena against whom disqualification petitions are pending consideration. Such members are also in direct breach of the whip issued by the Shiv Sena and thereby attracting Paragraph 2(1)(b) of the Tenth Schedule, it added.

The plea also said after the 91st Amendment, the defence of a split in the political party is no longer available with regard to disqualification under Paragraph 2 of the Tenth Schedule. "The delinquent MLAs led by Shinde are in clear breach of the mandate of the whip issued by the Shiv Sena and they have admittedly not merged with any other political party, thereby disabling them from the defence under Paragraph 4 of the Tenth Schedule," it added.