SC refuses to stay Maha Gov’s direction on floor test

In a setback to the tottering Uddhav Thackeray-led MAV government, the Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to interfere with the floor-test ordered by the state Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari.

A vacation bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and J.B. Pardiwala in a brief order passed after an over three-and-a-half hour long hearing issued notice on the petition by the chief whip of the Shiv Sena legislative party in the Maharashtra Assembly Sunil Prabhu challenging the Governor’s order for a floor-test on Thursday (June 30).

The court said that the hearing of the petition by the Shiv Sena chief whip and the earlier petition by the rebel MLAS challenging the disqualification proceedings initiated by the deputy Speaker Narhari Zirwal would be taken up on July 11, on the reopening of the court after summer vacation.

The order passed by the court said, “Having given our thoughtful consideration to the rival submissions, we do not find any ground to stay the convening of the special session of the Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha on 30.6.2022, i.e., tomorrow at 11.00 am with the only agenda of a trust vote.”

The proceedings of the trust vote to be convened on June 30, the court ordered, shall be subject to the final outcome of the instant writ petition as well as the writ petition by the rebel MLAS.

The court ordered the incarcerated Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik and former state home minister Anil Deshmukh to be taken to the state Assembly to participate in the voting during the floor test.

At the conclusion of the hearing on the petition by the Shiv Sena chief whip, the judges retired to their chamber to discuss the order to be passed and came back a little after 9.00 pm to pronounce a brief order. The order was pronounced by Justice Surya Kant.

The hearing that commenced at 5 pm and lasted a little beyond 8.30 pm saw solicitor general Tushar Mehta appearing for the Maharashtra Governor, senior lawyers Neeraj Kishan Kaul and Maninder Singh appearing for the rebel camp and Abhishek Manu Singhvi arguing for Prabhu.

The vacation bench took up the petition by Prabhu for hearing after Singhvi mentioned it in the morning for an urgent hearing, assuring the court that the petition challenging the Governor’s order of the floor test, which is in the process of being finalised would be filed post lunch. Though senior lawyer Kaul opposed the that it will hear the petition. petition in the morning itself, in the course of the Questioning the Koshyari’s mentioning, the court said decision to order a

floor test after leader of the Opposition Devendra Fadnavis met him a day earlier (June 28), Singhvi

said that the Governor did not even think it necessary to speak to the state Chief Minister.