The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Solicitor General to inform the Maharashtra Assembly Speaker to not take any decision against the disqualification notices issued to 16 MLAs of the Eknath Shinde camp unless the same is decided by the apex court. The top court said the matter will require the constitution of a bench and it will take some time to be listed. The matter will not be listed on Tuesday.

"Please inform the assembly speaker not to take any decision unless the plea is decided," Chief Justice of India (CJI) NV Ramana told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appearing on behalf of the Maharashtra Governor.

A bench comprising CJI Ramana and Justices Krishna Murari and Hima Kohli took note of the submissions of senior advocates led by Kapil Sibal that the several pleas of the Uddhav faction were to be listed on Monday. "I urge that there should be no disqualification till the matter is decided here," Sibal said, adding that earlier the top court had protected the rebel MLAs when they had approached it.

The Thackeray-led faction has also challenged the validity of assembly proceedings held on July 3 and July 4 in which a new speaker of the House was elected and subsequent proceedings of floor test in which the Shinde-led coalition had proved its majority.

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On June 30, Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari administered the oath of office only to Chief Minister Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis.

Last month, Shinde launched a rebellion against the Sena and the majority of the party MLAs sided with him, which led to the collapse of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government led by Uddhav Thackeray. After winning the trust vote last week, Shinde had said he will need some time before he and Fadnavis discuss the allocation of cabinet portfolios.

Last week, the court has agreed to hear on July 11 the plea of Shiv Sena's Sunil Prabhu seeking suspension from the Assembly of CM Shinde and 15 rebel MLAs against whom disqualification pleas are pending.

With inputs from PTI

First Published:Jul 11, 2022 12:13 PM IST