Supreme Court To Hear Shiv Sena UBT Petition Against Maharashtra Speaker's Refusal To Disqualify Shinde Group On March 7

The Supreme Court today (March 1) agreed to post on March 7, 2024, the petition filed by a member of Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) challenging the Maharashtra Assembly Speaker's refusal to disqualify the MLAs belonging to Eknath Shinde group.

Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, for the petitioner, mentioned the matter before Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud for an urgent hearing. Sibal said that the matter requires a hearing and requested that it be listed on a non-miscellaneous day. CJI agreed to post on March 7.

Senior Advocate Harish Salve represented the Eknath Shinde group.

Previously, on February 12, the bench, while deferring the hearing, said that the question of maintainability of the petition would be considered first.

In the earlier hearing, Senior Advocate Mr Salve, pointing out that the Shinde group has approached the Bombay High Court challenging that part of the Speaker's order which refused to disqualify Uddhav Sena members, questioned the maintainability of the petition before the Supreme Court.

When the CJI asked why the petitioner couldn't approach the High Court, Sibal said that the Speaker's decision was in violation of the judgments of the Supreme Court and that the matter was best settled at the level of the Apex Court.

The matter is filed before the Court by a Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) member, Sunil Prabhu, challenging the order passed by the Speaker of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, Rahul Narwekar on January 10.

The Special Leave Petition under Article 136 questions the Speaker's decision to dismiss the disqualification petitions filed by the Uddhav Thackeray group against the Eknath Shinde group. The crux of the matter lies in the Speaker's determination that the Shinde group constitutes the 'real' Shiv Sena, backed by a legislative majority when the factions emerged in June 2022. The Speaker also affirmed the legitimacy of the whip appointed by Shinde, emphasizing no violation by Shinde group MLAs. Uddhav Sena contends that the ruling overlooks the Supreme Court's precedent in Subhash Desai v. Governor of Maharashtra, arguing against the conflation of 'legislature party' with the 'political party.' 

Case : Sunil Prabhu v. Eknath Shinde SLP(C) No. 1644-1662/2024