Unfortunate CM, Governor are not trusting each other: HC

Bench was hearing 2 public interest litigation pleas, one filed by Maharashtra BJP MLA Girish Mahajan

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday said it was "unfortunate that two highest constitutional functionaries [Chief Minister and Governor] of a State did not trust each other"

A Division Bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice M.S. Karnik made the observation while hearing two public interest litigation petitions, one filed by Maharashtra BJP MLA Girish Mahajan. The pleas challenge the procedure of selection of the Speaker for the State Assembly.

Dismissing the pleas, the court said, "it would be appropriate for the two [the Chief Minister and the Governor] to sit together and sort out the differences." It noted, "The public is least interested in who is going to be the Speaker of the Assembly. Just go and ask the public who is the Speaker of the Lok Sabha? How many in this court will be able to answer? You have to show that this issue is worthy of a PIL. The Speaker is just a member of the legislature. What is the public interest here?"

The Speaker’s post has been vacant since Congress member Nana Patole was appointed the party’s State president in 2021.

The court stated, "We should have some faith in the Governor's discretion. The Chief Minister is the head of the state. We cannot go to the extent of saying either of the two are not right here."

The Bench held that the said procedure did not breach any of the fundamentals guaranteed under the Article 14 (equality before the law) of the Constitution.

While dismissing the PILs, the court asked whether such an amendment prohibited other legislators from voicing their suggestions on the Speaker's election. It said ₹ 12 lakh, including ₹ 10 lakh, submitted by Mr. Mahajan and ₹ 2 lakh by citizen Janak Vyas (another petitioner) at the beginning of the hearing to prove their bona fide, stood forfeited.