The Supreme Court on Thursday came down heavily on former Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari for his decision to call a floor test in the Shiv Sena case, but said it could not reinstate the Uddhav Thackeray Government because the Chief Minister resigned without facing the floor test.
The five-judge Constitution bench delivered a unanimous verdict on Maharashtra political row by referring the 2016 Nabam Rebia five-judge verdict related to the power of the speaker on disqualification of MLAs to a larger bench. According to the Nabam Rebia judgement, a Speaker of the House cannot issue disqualification petitions under the anti-defection law while a motion of resolution for his/her removal was pending.
The order came while considering the Shiv Sena case which saw 16 MLAs defect from the party last June. According to the CJI, whether a notice seeking the removal of the Speaker will restrict his powers to issue disqualification notices to MLAs needs to be examined by a larger bench.
The Supreme Court also said that the Speaker's decision to appoint Bharatshet Gogawale as the whip of Shiv Sena was illegal. Gogawale was backed by the Shinde group.
The court said Koshyari had no objective material to call upon then chief minister Uddhav Thackeray to prove majority in the Assembly on June 30 last year. "If the Speaker and the government circumvent the no-confidence motion, the Governor will be justified in calling for a floor test without the aid and advice of the council of ministers. The Assembly was not in session when the Leader of the Opposition Devendra Fadnavis wrote to the Government. The opposition parties did not issue any no-confidence motion. The Governor had no objective material to doubt the confidence of the government," the CJI said.
However, the SC said since Thackeray had resigned without facing the floor test, the governor was justified in inviting Shinde to form government at the behest of the BJP which was the largest political party in the house.
"However, the status quo ante can't be restored because Thackeray did not face the floor test and tendered his resignation. The governor was, therefore, justified in inviting Shinde to form the government at the behest of the BJP which was the largest political party in the house," it said.
