The Bombay High
Court on Wednesday issued notice to Maharashtra Speaker Rahul Narwekar and the
14 MLAs of the Uddhav Thackeray group on petitions filed by Chief Minister
Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena challenging Narwekar's order to not disqualify the
lawmakers.
A division bench
of Justices Girish Kulkarni and Firdosh Pooniwalla also issued notice to the
Maharashtra Legislature Secretariat and directed all the respondents to file
their affidavits to the petition.
The bench posted
the matter for hearing on February 8.
The petitions
filed by Bharat Gogavale, the chief whip of Shinde-led Shiv Sena, against the
14 MLAs said it was challenging the legality, propriety and correctness of the
January 10 order passed by Speaker Narwekar dismissing the disqualification petitions
filed by him against the lawmakers from the rival camp.
Gogavale has
sought HC to declare the speaker's order as bad in law, quash it and disqualify
all the 14 MLAs from the Thackeray group Sena (UBT).
Issue notice to
all respondents. Reply affidavits if any to be filed in advance and copies to
be served on the petitioner. Matter to be listed on February 8, the court said.
The petitions
against each of the 14 MLAs were filed on January 12.
The court
clarified that, as per a new practice, all matters filed are taken up for
hearing within a day or two.
Because of
auto-listing the petitions have been listed today. There is a standing notice
that all matters once it is filed will be listed. This reduces the burden of
mentioning and all. At least this way, the matter will move forward, Justice
Kulkarni said.
In the petitions,
Gogavale said that on July 3, 2022, he had issued a whip to all Shiv Sena
members to vote in favour of the Shinde government during the confidence motion
to be held in the assembly on July 4, 2022.
However, the 14
Uddhav Thackeray MLAs not only violated the whip but also voluntarily gave up
the membership of the Shiv Sena Political Party by their acts and omissions, he
said.
In his petitions,
Gogavale said the Speaker had failed to consider that apart from giving up the
membership, the Thackeray group MLAs also voted against the Shiv Sena
government in Maharashtra in cahoots with Congress and Nationalist Congress
Party (NCP) to destabilise the ruling dispensation.
While Gogavale
moved HC on January 12, the Uddhav Thackeray faction on Monday filed a petition
in the Supreme Court challenging the Speaker's order declaring the Sena bloc
led by CM Shinde as the real political party after its split in June 2022.
The Speaker had
also rejected the Thackeray faction's plea to disqualify 16 MLAs of the ruling
camp, including Shinde.
In the petitions,
Gogavale said since the Speaker in his order has held that Eknath Shinde
represents the real Shiv Sena and that Gogavale was the legally appointed chief
whip of the Shiv Sena party, he (Speaker) ought to have disqualified the 14
Sena (UBT) MLAs for their actions against the party.
The final order
passed by Speaker erroneously concludes that the grounds as raised by
petitioner (Gogavale) are mere allegations and assertions on the part of the
Petitioner," the petitions said.
This conclusion
is ex facie illegal and cannot be sustained, it added.
The pleas said
that the members of the Thackeray faction voted contrary to the whip issued by
Gogavale and this was part of the record of the assembly and hence in no manner
can be said to be a mere allegation.
In a big
political win for Shinde, Narwekar on January 10 held that the Shiv Sena
faction led by him was the "real political party" when rival groups
emerged in June 2022 and did not disqualify any MLA from the two camps.