Will guv clear all 12 MLC nominees easily?

Raj Bhavan officials say Koshyari may raise questions over some names

MUMBAI: After the Bombay high court’s (HC) remarks over the nomination of the 12 members for the legislative Council from the governor’s quota and the subsequent meeting between Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari and Union home minister Amit Shah in Delhi, some development is expected over the issue, which has been a reason for the ongoing friction between the Raj Bhavan and the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government.

Raj Bhavan officials opined that Koshyari is unlikely to clear the proposal easily and may raise questions over some of the recommendations made by the MVA government.

The 12 names recommended to the governor from the fields of literature, science and art, social service and cooperative movement are as per the provision of filling a sixth of the posts in the upper house of the state legislature. The MVA government, ruled by Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress, had recommended four names each to Koshyari last November for the posts, which are lying vacant since May-june last year. But he has not taken any decision on the names. MVA leaders have been accusing Koshyari of playing politics over the nominations.

In response to a petition, HC had on Friday said that the governor is duty-bound to declare his decision on the nominations within a “reasonable time” and the failure to do so defeats the statutory intent.

“Though the governor’s meeting in Delhi on Friday evening was scheduled earlier, the duo [Shah and Koshyari] must have discussed the remarks by HC. The governor will now have to act upon the state government’s recommendations, but it does not mean that all the 12 names will be cleared immediately. In 2015, the then Uttar Pradesh

Governor Ram Naik had deferred the appointments to the Council recommended by the state government. After a lot of noise, Naik had cleared a few of the names. Koshyari, too, is likely to adopt a similar approach,” said a Raj Bhavan official. “The recommendations of the council of ministers are binding on the Governor. The power of the decision over whether any particular nominee fits into the recommended category lies with the cabinet and not the governor,” said constitutional expert Ulhas Bapat.

“I don’t know if the meeting between Koshyariji and Amit Shahji was in the capacity of their constitutional posts or as former party colleagues, but we expect the recommendations to be cleared now,” state minority affairs minister and NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik said.

Congress spokesperson Atul Londhe said, “The nominations made by the Nitish Kumar government in Bihar after being elected last November were cleared by the governor within days. How could there be a different treatment here?”