Uddhav Thackeray (left) and Rahul Narvekar. (file)
The notice of two weeks is not the time limit for the Speaker to give a final decision, but only to respond to the petition. Rahul Narvekar told News18, “I have not received the notice yet. After receiving the notice, we will study it and take appropriate action.”
The Supreme Court (SC) has issued notice to Maharashtra State Assembly Speaker Rahul Narvekar, giving him two weeks to respond Procedure followed so far On the disqualification of 16 Shiv Sena MLAs.
This two weeks’ notice is not a time limit for the Speaker to give a final decision, but only a time limit for the Speaker to give his opinion and reply to the petition.
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The Thackeray group had sought disqualification of the MLAs who sided with Chief Minister Eknath Shinde after rebelling against Thackeray and splitting the army. The Supreme Court had said that the speaker is the only authority who can take a decision on this matter.
Although the hearing has been going on for three months, the speaker has not yet taken any decision. That’s why the Thackeray group filed a petition against him in the Supreme Court. On Friday, a hearing was held in front of a three-judge bench headed by the Chief Justice. In the petition, the speaker has been requested to take an immediate decision on this issue.
Speaking to News18 over phone, Narvekar said, “I have come to know about the notice issued to me by the Honorable Supreme Court from media reports. Till now I have not received the notice. After receiving the actual notice, we will study it and take appropriate action.
The petition states, the delay is deliberate
The Thackeray group had filed the petition in early July, demanding that the speaker be directed to expeditiously hear the disqualification petitions of the MLAs. The petition claimed that Narvekar was deliberately delaying the hearing, while the Supreme Court, in its May 11 judgement, had directed the speaker to decide the petitions in a time-bound manner.
Last week, Narvekar had issued notices to 40 MLAs of the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena faction and 14 of the Shiv Sena (UBT) asking them to file their reply on the disqualification petition.
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Speaking to News18, Shiv Sena leader Sunil Prabhu said, “We met the speaker more than twice over the same issue. We also requested them to expedite the process, but with no progress, we had to approach the apex court, which asked them to take a final decision. Now, the Supreme Court has asked him to file a reply on the process adopted on the issue.
