The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a petition filed by the Uddhav Thackeray faction of Shiv Sena challenging the order of Maharashtra Speaker Rahul Narwekar, who dismissed disqualification pleas against Chief Minister Eknath Shinde faction MLAs.
The bench, consisting of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justices JB Pardiwala, and Manoj Misra, has scheduled the matter for a hearing on March 7.
The Thackeray faction’s plea, challenging the Speaker’s decision and recognition of the Shinde faction as the ‘real Shiv Sena,’ was filed in response to the split in June 2022.
The Speaker’s decision not to disqualify Shinde and his group triggered the legal battle, with the Thackeray faction claiming it was based on “extraneous and irrelevant” considerations.
Previously, the Supreme Court urged the Speaker to promptly resolve the pending disqualification petitions. The Shiv Sena party whip, Sunil Prabhu, appointed by Uddhav Thackeray, filed disqualification petitions against rebel MLAs on June 23, 2022, following their revolt against Thackeray.
In May of the previous year, a five-judge constitutional bench determined that it could not disqualify the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government and reinstate Uddhav Thackeray as Chief Minister, as Thackeray had chosen to resign rather than face a test of strength in the Assembly.
In August 2022, the top court’s three-judge bench referred the issues related to the Shiv Sena’s petition in the Maharashtra political crisis to a five-judge Constitution bench.
On June 29, 2022, the Supreme Court permitted the floor test in the Maharashtra Assembly on June 30, rejecting the stay on the Governor’s directive to Uddhav Thackeray to prove his majority.
Following the court’s order, Uddhav Thackeray resigned as Chief Minister, and Eknath Shinde was subsequently sworn in.