Supreme Court gives Maharashtra Speaker last chance to set timeline for anti-defection proceedings against CM Shinde’s camp

SC gives Maharashtra Speaker final chance to frame realistic timeline for anti-defection proceedings against CM Shinde, warns of two-month timeline. SG to intervene with Speaker to finalise modalities. Posting case for Oct 30, SC won't allow Speaker to drag proceedings till next election.

The Supreme Court on October 17 gave Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar a final opportunity to frame a realistic time schedule to hear and decide the anti-defection proceedings against Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and other MLAs.

In the previous hearing, a three-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud had slammed the Speaker for reducing the proceedings to a “charade” by “merrily” deferring hearings.

The court accepted Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta’s submission that he would personally intervene with the Speaker during the Dussehra vacations to finalise a firm set of modalities for the pending disqualification proceedings under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution.

The court posted the case for its next hearing on October 30.

On October 13, Chief Justice Chandrachud said the Speaker had disregarded the court’s September 18 order to prepare a schedule to complete the disqualification proceedings against the Shinde camp. The court had even warned that it may even be compelled to set a timeline of two months for the Speaker, who is acting as tribunal under the Tenth Schedule, to complete the proceedings.

“Somebody has to advise the Speaker that he cannot defeat the orders of the Supreme Court like this… He is acting as an election tribunal when he is hearing disqualification petitions under the Tenth Schedule. He is amenable to the jurisdiction of this court,” the Chief Justice had observed.

Senior advocates Kapil Sibal and A.M. Singhvi, for petitioner and Uddhav Thackeray loyalist Sunil Prabhu, had urged the court to decide the responsibilities of the Speaker while acting as an election tribunal under the Tenth Schedule.