Bombay High Court Dismisses Shiv Sena (UBT) Leader's PIL Against Withdrawal Of 12 MLC Nominations By Governor
The Bombay High Court on Thursday (09 January) dismissed a plea filed by Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sunil Modi, challenging the Governor's decision permitting the Eknath Shinde-led government to withdraw 12 Member of Legislative Council's (MLC) nominations that were recommended by the State when Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Agadi (MVA) was in power.
A division bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyay and Justice Amit Borkar said that the plea was misconceived and dismissed the petition.
In July 2023, Sunil Modi filed the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) against the Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari's decision withdrawing the 12 MLC nominations.
The nominations were recommended by the MVA government, soon after which CM Eknath Shinde-led government came to power and sought to withdraw the nominations. The Governor, on September 5, 2022, returned the list to the Shinde-led government, leading to the present petition.
On 07 October 2024, the High Court had reserved its judgment in the matter.
It is also pertinent to note that Sunil Modi has recently filed another PIL challenging the notification issued by the Maharashtra Governor on 14 October 2024, where 7 MLCs were nominated to the State Legislative Council. Modi argued that when the issue was reserved for judgment in the previous petition, the action of the governor was malice in law, so as to preempt the decision in the previous petition.
The Court will hear the fresh PIL in due course.
Case title: Sunil Modi vs. State of Maharashtra & Ors. (PIL No. 119 of 2023)