New Delhi: A lawyer irked the Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud on Tuesday, as he kept insisting on an early date of hearing in a case related to the disqualification of Shiv Sena MLAs. The CJI told the lawyer, "Sit here for a day. I assure you that you will run for your life".
A three-judge bench led by CJI and comprising Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra was hearing submissions regarding the fixing of a date to hear two separate pleas related to the Maharashtra political disputes.
The CJI told the counsel that in the Shiv Sena case, the pleadings were complete. Regarding the listing of the NCP dispute matter, senior advocate NK Kaul, appearing for the Ajit Pawar group, submitted before the bench that three weeks' time should be given for filing a response on the plea of the Sharad Pawar group. The bench said it can give ten days’ to Ajit Pawar group and its 40 MLAs to file the response.
At this juncture, one of the lawyers, appearing for the Uddhav Thackeray faction, insisted that the court should give an early date in the matter and pressed that Maharashtra Assembly polls are round the corner. At this juncture, the CJI told the lawyer, "Please do not dictate the court".
The CJI told the lawyer, "Why don't you come and sit here just for one day and tell the court master as to what dates you want. Ultimately you see this is too much. You see the kind of pressure of work on the court's ..., please come and sit here. Sit for a day. I assure you that you will run for your life!"
The Uddhav Thackeray faction of Shiv Sena has challenged Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar's order declaring the Shiv Sena faction led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde as the "real political party" after its split in June 2022. Similarly, the Sharad Pawar faction of the NCP challenged Narwekar's decision declaring the faction led by Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar as the real NCP. The top court had issued notice to Ajit Pawar and his 40 MLAs on the plea moved by the Sharad Pawar faction.
