The Bench said the Maharashtra Assembly Speaker’s decision to appoint Bharat Gogawale of the Shinde faction as the whip of Shiv Sena was illegal
KRC TIMES National Bureau
Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to reinstate the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in Maharashtra for it resigned without facing a floor test even as it faulted the then governor BS Koshyari for directing it to prove its majority in the House.
In a unanimous verdict, a five-judge Constitution Bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud said, “The Governor was not justified in calling upon Mr Thackeray to prove his majority on the floor of the House because he did not have reasons based on objective material before him to reach the conclusion that Mr Thackeray had lost the confidence of the House.
“However, the status quo ante can’t be restored because Mr Thackeray did not face the floor test and tendered his resignation. The Governor was, therefore, justified in inviting Mr (Eknath) Shinde to form the government at the behest of the BJP which was the largest political party in the House,” said the Bench, which also included Justice MR Shah, Justice Krishna Murari, Justice Hima Kohli and Justice PS Narasimha.
Interestingly, the top court had on June 29, 2022 given a go-ahead to the floor test called for by the then governor Koshyari who resigned in February this year.
The Bench said the Maharashtra Assembly Speaker’s decision to appoint Bharat Gogawale of the Shinde faction as the whip of Shiv Sena was illegal.
“The Speaker on taking cognisance of the statement by Mr Shinde did not undertake to identify who was the whip and he should have undertaken an enquiry. The decision to appoint Mr Gogawale as chief whip was illegal since whip can be appointed only by the political party. To hold that the legislature party appoints the whip will be like to sever the umbilical cord… this is not the system as envisaged by the Constitution. 10th schedule will be rendered otiose,” it said.
The Constitution Bench also referred the 2016 Nabam Rebia verdict by a five-judge constitution bench, which relates to the power of Speaker on disqualification of MLAs, to a larger Bench of seven judges.
