The Supreme Court on Tuesday decided to hear the applications related to constitutional issues arising out of the rift within the erstwhile Shiv Sena party between the rival factions led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and his predecessor Uddhav Thackeray on February 14.
The order was passed by the Constitution Bench comprising Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud, Justice M.R. Shah, Justice Krishna Murari, Justice Hima Kohli and Justice P.S. Narasimha.
Appearing for the Thackeray faction, Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal contended that he would like to argue on the correctness of the judgment delivered by the five-Judge Constitution Bench of the Apex Court in 2016 in the case Nabam Rabia vs Deputy Speaker, along with the need to list the current matter before a seven-Judge Constitution Bench.
Sibal had contended during the previous hearing that in the Nabam Rebia case, a 5-Judge Constitution Bench had ruled that a Speaker could not initiate disqualification proceedings, when a resolution seeking his removal was pending.
CJI Chandrachud, while listing the matter for February 14, observed that it was for the five-Judge Bench to decide on whether the matter should be referred to a seven-Judge Bench or not.
The CJI said that it will hear the Maharashtra matter on February 14 and will take the Assam matter after that.
The three-Judge Bench comprising then Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana, Justice Krishna Murari and Justice Hima Kohli had referred the petitions to the Constitution Bench.
(Case title: Subhash Desai vs Principal Secretary, Governor of Maharashtra And Ors)