Maharashtra Crisis: SC refuses to stay floor test, lists petition to July 11

Supreme Court orders floor test disallowing the plea of Shiv Sena's Chief Whip to stay tomorrow's floor test in Maharashtra assembly ordered by the Governor.

New Delhi: After a marathon hearing of more than 3 hours, the Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to allow the plea by Shiv Sena chief whip Sunil Prabhu, challenging the Maharashtra Governor's direction to the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government to take a floor test and prove its majority in the House on Thursday.

Vacation bench of Justices Surya Kant and J.B. Pardiwala ordered notices on the petitions. It stated that the tomorrow's floor test proceedings will be subject to the final outcome of the writ petition, which will be taken up for hearing on July 11. The top court also issued notice to the Secretary of Legislative Assembly and others on plea against the Governor's direction for the floor test.

"We have drafted this short order. We are not staying the floor test as convened by the Governor. We are issuing notice in the writ petition. You can file a counter in five days. We will hear on merits along with other cases on July 11. Tomorrow's proceeding will depend on the final outcome of this petition," the bench said.

In a related petition, the Apex court permitted Minister Nawab Malik and former Minister Anil Deshmukh to vote in the special session of Maharashtra Assembly scheduled at 11am on Thursday. "Since the applicants are in custody pursuant to custody by ED and CBI, both the agencies are directed to escort the applicants to the Vidhan Sabha hall. The applicants should be brought back to the judicial custody after the procedure is over," the bench said.

Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, representing Prabhu, contended that it won't be proper to have a floor test with hands of the Speaker tied and urged the court to either allow the Speaker to decide the disqualification proceedings or defer the floor test. Concluding his arguments, Singhvi urged the top court to balance the equities and defer the floor test by a week.

He also urged the top court to allow the Speaker to decide the disqualification proceedings, or advance the hearing in the matter. The petitions filed by the Eknath Shinde faction against the disqualification notices issued to the 16 rebel MLAs by the Deputy Speaker are scheduled for hearing on July 11.

Singhvi said the Shivraj Singh Chouhan (2020) judgment applies only if there is no fetter on the Speaker and "the floor test and disqualification proceedings are undoubtedly related after your lordships have put a fetter on the Speaker". He said this court can't allow a constitutional sin by disabling the Speaker but permitting the floor test.

He said the Governors are not angels, and they are humans and added that the Governor may not be bound by aid and advice of the Council of Ministers but he has the basic duty to consult them. He said if a floor test done on Thursday, followed by a disqualification of the MLAs to be proceeded by the Speaker, is irreversible. "We cannot live in a theoretical world. It is irreversible," Singhvi said. (with Agency inputs)