Demand to review Maharashtra MLAs’ suspension wrong: BJP

Ashish Shelar

The 12 Bharatiya Janata Party legislators, whose suspension has been lifted by the Supreme Court, have countered the State Legislature's move of asking for reviewing the SC decision on the ground that it amounts to judicial interference. They say the SC had given the legislature an opportunity to present its side, and also suggested resolving the matter internally, instead of requiring it to give a judgment in the MLAs' petition.

Chairman of the Maharashtra legislative council, Ramraje Naik Nimbalkar, his deputy Dr Neelam Gorhe and deputy speaker in Assembly, Narhari Jhirwal, met President Ram Nath Kovind at the Raj Bhavan in Mumbai on Friday evening. They later told mediapersons that they had urged Kovind to reference the SC to review the matter by a larger bench.

One of the winning petitioners, Ashish Shelar said, "The demand tabled before the President is wrong because there have been SC verdicts in several cases pertaining to legislative actions like ours, wherein the law is settled [by the apex court]." He added that the legislature's presiding officers, who urged the President, have already lost time and opportunity. Shelar, a lawyer by training, added that a particular case the three legislative officers mentioned to the President, and other cases in Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Odisha, have established that the review cannot happen when the law is settled.

"All these cases were decided by the Supreme Court; some of them were even discussed during the hearing. How can the government not read judgments properly? How can they say the Supreme Court has not given such a judgment in the past 70 years?" he asked.

Shalar said he wanted to clarify certain things because attempts are being made to create an "unnecessary storm". "The legislature had an opportunity to present its case because the court had asked it to appear, but it was not represented. It was also asked in the interim to settle the matter internally and we were asked to approach the speaker to make a request to revoke our suspension. But our request was not taken up despite the court's indication that it did not want to hear the case further if the matter was settled in the House. It is morally wrong to ask for a review after the judgment is made."

The Bandra MLA said it was also wrong to say that the legislature has restored their rights. "We fought for it. The Supreme Court gave us justice by deciding that the Assembly's resolution to suspend us was illegal, irrational and unconstitutional. The MVA has been stripped off its hyper ego."