Maharashtra Speaker Rahul Narvekar said on Wednesday, “…just because you approach the court does not mean that the order passed by the Speaker is overturned.” His statement came as the Uddhav Thackeray faction mulls approaching the Supreme Court against Narvekar’s verdict on disqualification pleas.
Narvekar said one has “to establish that it (the verdict) is illegal or untenable in the eyes of the law.” And, the Uddhav Thackeray faction’s “baseless allocations do not substantiate that,” the Maharashtra Speaker said late Wednesday.
Narvekar also termed the allegation of “match-fixing” just ahead of the verdict as “baseless”. He said he has to not perform his other duties being an MLA and member of a legislative board. He said, “There’s no provision under law that says that while the Speaker is adjudicating disqualification petitions, he should not perform his other duties.”
“I am a member of a legislative board…the chief minister is the member. We have to meet every month to discuss various issues pertaining to the board. I am also an MLA of the constituencies- and so I have various issues which I have to take up with the government…There’s nothing unreasonable in meeting the chief minister,” Narvekar told news agency ANI.
After the Maharashtra Speaker announced its decision in favour of the Shinde faction Shiv Sena, Uddhav Thackeray’s faction leader Sanjay Raut said that this is all match-fixing and they will approach the Supreme Court. Thackeray had earlier raised objection to a meeting between Narwekar and Shinde, just ahead of the verdict in the Shiv Sena MLA disqualification case.
Maharashtra Speaker Rahul Narwekar delivered a verdict on cross-petitions by Shiv Sena factions seeking disqualification of rival group MLAs after a split in the party in June last year. In his verdict, Narwekar said on Wednesday that the “Shinde faction was real Shiv Sena when rival factions emerged”.
The Speaker went into great length on the Shiv Sena constitution while delivering his crucial verdict and said “decision of Paksha Pramukh cannot be taken as decision of the political party”.
“In my view, the 2018 leadership structure (submitted with ECI) was not as per the Shiv Sena Constitution. Shiv Sena party chief as per the party Constitution cannot remove anyone from the party…Uddhav Thackeray removed Eknath Shinde or any party leader from the party as per the party Constitution. So the removal of Eknath Shinde by Uddhav Thackeray in June 2022 is not accepted based on the Shiv Sena Constitution,” the Speaker said.
The Supreme Court had last month asked the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar to deliver his judgment on disqualification petitions filed by Shiv Sena factions of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Uddhav Thackeray by January 10.
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Published: 10 Jan 2024, 10:05 PM IST