The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Maharashtra Assembly speaker not to proceed with the disqualification petition filed by the Shiv Sena faction led by former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray.
According to senior advocates led by Kapil Sibal, the several petitions of the Uddhav faction would be listed on Monday by a bench comprising Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justices Krishna Murari and Hima Kohli.
According to the court, the petitions would be heard on July 11. Sibal urged that no disqualification should be applied until the matter is resolved.
The Chief Justice asked the Solicitor General to inform the Assembly Speaker not to take any decisions until the apex court rules on the petitions.
CJI told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who agreed to convey the message to Assembly Speaker to not take any decision pending the decision of the appeal.
He said it was not about the survival of the Shinde government, but about the survival of democracy, to challenge the disqualification notice issued to Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and other Shiv Sena MLAs.
Rather than the survival of Shinde’s government, rather, it is about the survival of democracy… As a side note, it’s also significant for the credibility of the ‘free and fair’ judiciary.
According to the top court, Shinde and other rebel members of the legislature have until July 12 to respond to disqualification notices issued by the Deputy Speaker. A reply must be filed by June 27 as previously granted by the Deputy Speaker.