Maharashtra govt wants President to refer suspended MLAs' case to SC

The Supreme Court had ruled that the resolution suspending the 12 BJP MLAs beyond the period of the remainder of the session held in July 2021 was ‘unconstit-utional’ and ‘irrational’. File pic

The state legislature has accepted the Supreme Court's decision of revoking the suspension of 12 BJP MLAs, but wants the President to advise the apex court for a judicial review of the issue by a larger bench, and decide whether the judiciary can interfere in matters of the legislature. Chairman of legislative council Ramraje Naik Nimbalkar, his deputy Dr Neelam Gorhe and Assembly Deputy Speaker Narhari Jhirwal met President Ram Nath Kovind in Mumbai on Friday. 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 Rajbhavan in Mumbai on Friday and submitted a request for the same.

President Ram Nath Kovind, seen with CM Uddhav Thackeray, was in Mumbai on Friday to inaugurate the Darbar Hall at Raj Bhavan. Pic/PTI

Nimbalkar told media persons that it was time to have clarity on "separation of powers" of the three important wings of the democracy - the Executive, the Judiciary and the Legislature. "The Supreme Court's decision (regarding revoking their suspension) has been implemented, but it is not a question of only 12 legislators and Maharashtra. It's a national issue now, because all legislatures (and Parliament) will have a similar issue to deal with," said Nimbalkar, adding that the presiding officers feared a situation wherein they won't be able to run the business of the houses under their command.

"In the past 70 years, no such interference by the Supreme Court has been reported. We requested the President to use his powers to refer the matter to the SC for a judicial review by a larger, say constitutional bench, because this particular judgment came from a three-member bench," he said, adding that the Maharashtra legislature will write to the Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha and other state legislatures about the impending crisis that may arise from long-term repercussions of the decision. According to the chairman, Kovind gave them a patient hearing and assured them of examining the request. "We will decide further if the President doesn't refer our appeal to the apex court," Nimbalkar stated.

One of the MLAs who had moved the SC, Ashish Shelar, wondered whether the MVA leaders suffered from memory loss. "When this government was formed, the MVA approached the Supreme Court for direction on the procedure of the Assembly Speaker. They got a favorable verdict and implemented it then, but now they are saying that the judiciary has never interfered in the legislature in the past 70 years and are questioning the verdict in our case," he said, asking the leaders to study the matter further. Shelar added that the MVA's dictatorship has lost. "But questioning the SC in such a manner puts a question mark over the government's respect for the democratic values."

The appeal to the President by the state legislature

"We hold the Hon. Supreme Court in the highest possible esteem. Yet, we are compelled to submit that the aforementioned judgment passed does not sit well with the provisions of Articles 190, 194 and 212 of the Constitution. We, in our modest capacity, also feel that the judgment distances itself from the basic structure of the Constitution as laid out in the matter of Keshavanand Bharati Vs Kerala Govt. We beg to state that this judgment has overstepped the well-defined confines marked by the Constitution between the Executive, the Judiciary and the Legislature. It said further that every House of the Legislature enjoys certain penal powers conferred upon itself for the purpose of conducting its business smoothly and it is a well settled tenet of the British Parliamentary system that the said penal powers are plenary in nature. However, the aforementioned judgment appears to create an impression of having endeavoured to curtail the capacity of Legislative Houses to employ such penal powers...

Jan 28
Day this year when the Supreme Court revoked the suspension of the 12 MLAs