Delhi/Mumbai- Supreme Court today overruled suspension of 12 BJP MLAs from the Maharashtra Assembly. The court said that the decision was arbitrary, unconstitutional, and illegal. However, Mahavikas Aghadi Govt leaders expressed displeasure over the Supreme Court decision and hailed the independence of the Legislative Assembly.
Justice A M Khanwilkar, who headed the bench of Supreme Court, said that MLAs cannot be suspended for more than a session.
These 12 MLAs are Sanjay Kute, Ashish Shelar, Abhimanyu Pawar, Girish Mahajan, Atul Bhatkhalkar, Parag Alavani, Harish Pimpale, Yogesh Sagar, Jay Kumar Rawat, Narayan Kuche, Ram Satpute and Bunty Bhangdia. They were suspended on 5 July 2021. The presiding officer of the Speaker's chamber Bhaskar Jadhav had suspended them for misbehaving with him inside his cabin.
On this, Leader of opposition Devendra Fadnavis said on Twitter "Since the beginning, we were saying that it was completely unconstitutional & gross misuse of power to suspend our MLAs for such a long period to create artificial majority & that too for no valid reason & the Hon SC has upheld our stand."
Home Minister Dilip Walse Patil said in Ahmednagar that the court's decision is final. "The legislature will consider the decision once it is finalized. However, the Legislature and Parliament have special powers. There is a line between the decision of the court and the legislature. Therefore, it is up to the court how much seriously it should be taken,"
Reacting to the development Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut said that the decision of the court is unfortunate.
