The Supreme Court has set aside the suspension of Maharashtra BJP MLAs
The Maharashtra assembly's resolution to suspend 12 BJP MLAs for a year for alleged unruly behaviour has been set aside by the Supreme Court.
"Suspending the MLAs beyond the sessions is unconstitutional and illegal," the Supreme Court said today.
While the rules say suspension can be for the session, the 12 MLAs were suspended for a year beyond the session.
"Assembly resolutions are malice in the eyes of law and declared to be ineffective," the Supreme Court said.
They were suspended on July 5 last year from the assembly after the state government accused them of "misbehaving" with presiding officer Bhaskar Jadhav in the Speaker's chamber.
The 12 MLAs are Sanjay Kute, Ashish Shelar, Abhimanyu Pawar, Girish Mahajan, Atul Bhatkhalkar, Parag Alavani, Harish Pimpale, Yogesh Sagar, Jay Kumar Rawat, Narayan Kuche, Ram Satpute and Bunty Bhangdia.
The motion to suspend the MLAs was moved by state Parliamentary Affairs Minister Anil Parab and passed by a voice vote.
Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis had termed the allegation as false, and said Mr Jadhav's account of the incident was "one-sided".
"This is a false allegation and an attempt to reduce the numbers of opposition benches, because we exposed the government's falsehood on the OBC (Other Backward Classes) quota in local bodies," Mr Fadnavis had said, adding that BJP members had not abused the presiding officer.