New Delhi: The Supreme Court has told Maharashtra Speaker Rahul Narwekar to rule on cross-petitions filed by rival factions of the Shiv Sena - each seeking disqualification of the other's lawmakers - by December 31. Petitions filed by Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party are to be settled by January 31, the court added, noting these had to be settled now with the 2024 Lok Sabha election months away.
The order came after the Assembly Secretary asked for time till February 29 to decide on the disqualification of 56 MLAs. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had asked the court for time till January 31.
These petitions have been pending since last year's political crisis, when Sena lawmakers led by Eknath Shinde defected to the BJP and brought down the Uddhav Thackeray government.
On Monday a bench led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud called attention to the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution (which is meant to prevent defections) and said, "We are concerned... the sanctity of the Tenth Schedule must be maintained. Otherwise, we are throwing these provisions to the wind."
"Procedural wrangling cannot delay petitions. We direct proceedings be concluded, and directions passed, by December 31," the bench, also consisting Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, said.
Two weeks ago the court had given Mr Narwekar a final opportunity to give it a more realistic timeframe to decide on these petitions, warning the Speaker (yet again) that it had to be done expeditiously. This was after a September 18 order directing Mr Narwekar to submit a timeline.
The Speaker had done so, but the court declared itself dissatisfied with its terms.
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Last month, days after the Supreme Court expressed dissatisfaction, Mr Narwekar told NDTV there will be "no delay". The legal process will take place as per rules (but) it is not possible to say how much time it will take to disqualify the MLAs... but whatever will be done will as per rules," he had said.
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The court had then given Mr Narwekar one week to begin hearing the petitions.
The court had also come down hard on the Speaker, warning him of action if delays continued. The court had further demanded to know what steps had been taken since its May 11 order, in which he had been told to rule on the petitions within a "reasonable time".
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A total of 34 disqualification petitions - filed by the Shinde-led faction of the Sena, the Thackeray-led faction and Mr Pawar's NCP - seeking disqualification of 56 MLAs, including Mr Shinde, are pending.
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