In August last year, the Supreme Court referred the battle between Uddhav Thackeray (left) and Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde over the “real” Shiv Sena to a Constitution Bench.. The image shows Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray in the background.
A five-judge Bench of the Supreme Court on Tuesday, January 10, 2023, said it will start hearing from February 14 the political battle between Uddhav Thackeray and Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde over the “real” Shiv Sena.
The preliminary issue flagged in the case is whether the case need to be referred to a seven-judge Bench. On August 23 last year, a three-judge Bench of the court had referred the dispute to a Constitution Bench of five judges.
Lawyers had argued that the three-judge Bench raised “important constitutional questions relating to interpretation of Schedule 10 (anti-defection law) of the Constitution pertaining to disqualification, as well as the powers of the Speaker and the Governor and the power of judicial review”.
It had highlighted gaps in the court’s earlier judgment in Nebam Rebia relating to the power of the Speaker/Deputy Speaker to initiate disqualification proceedings, when proceedings for his or her own removal from office had been initiated.
The three-judge Bench had framed 10 questions of law for the Constitution Bench to consider and decide.
These had included questions on the scope of the power of the Speaker to determine the Whip and the leader of the House legislature party; whether intra-party decisions were amenable to judicial review; the extent of discretion and power of the Governor to invite a person to form the government, and whether the same is amenable to judicial review; the scope of the powers of the Election Commission of India with respect to determination of a split within a party.
The court had also asked the Constitution Bench to decide whether the notice for removal of a Speaker restricts him from continuing with disqualification proceedings; whether a constitutional court an be approached for a decision on a disqualification petition; can a court hold that a member is “deemed” to be disqualified by virtue of his/her actions, absent a decision by the Speaker; what is the status of proceedings in the House during the pendency of disqualification petitions against the members, among others.
