Chief Minister has no power to modify, review decision of in-charge minister: Bombay High Court quashes CM Eknath Shinde's order

The Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court recently held that the Chief Minister (CM) has no independent power assigned under the Maharashtra Rules of Business and Instructions to review or modify the decision taken by the concerned in-charge-minister [Chandrapur District Central Co-operative Bank Ltd. & Anr. v. State of Maharashtra & Ors.].Since a minister-in-charge of a department is supposed to function for the concerned department, he is responsible for the affairs of the same and his orders would assume the character of an order passed by the State government, the Court said."The Chief Minister has no independent power under the Business Rules and Instructions to interfere into the subject which was allocated to the in-charge-minister," the Court underlined.A bench of Justices Vinay Joshi and Valmiki SA Menezes, therefore, quashed a decision of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde dated November 29, 2022 staying the decision of Minister of Cooperation."The intervention of the Chief Minister is not authorized under the Business Rules and the Instructions issued thereunder. The intervention of the Chief Minister is wholly unwarranted and without the authority of law," the Court held.The Court was hearing a plea filed by Chandrapur District Central Co-operative Bank assailing a decision by CM Shinde in November 2022 to stay an order of the Minister of Co-operation which had allowed commencement of the recruitment process for the Bank..The co-operative bank has 93 branches across Chandrapur district in Maharashtra. Due to several retirements over the years, the board of directors in November 2021, decided to take steps to fill up such vacancies. After the necessary initial approvals, the bank published an advertisement for recruitment. The bank claimed in its plea that its chairman's political opponent, who is a lawmaker, made allegations of corruption with regard to the recruitment process.The bank then received a communication from the Co-operation department about stay in the recruitment process. In response, the bank addressed a representation to the Minister of Co-operation, who after due consideration, vacated the stay on November 23, 2022.This order of the in-charge minister was thereafter stayed by the CM, which came to be challenged by the bank by way of the present plea..The Court noted that CM was not the head of the co-operation department, and that a separate minister had been assigned to the department. “There is no authority/ power vested in CM as per Rules of Business and Instructions to have supervisory powers over the decision taken by the concerned Minister. Nor do the Rules indicate that the Minister is subordinate to the Chief Minister as regards independent functioning of a department assigned to him by the Rules,” the Court reasoned. Hence, the Court allowed the plea and quashed the stay order of the CM."We hold that the Chief Minister has no independent power assigned under the Rules of Business and Instructions issued thereunder to review or modify the decision taken by the concerned in-charge-minister, therefore, the impugned order of stay granted by the Chief Minister would not stand on this legal touchstone. In that view of the matter, the writ petition is allowed. Impugned order of stay dated 29.11.2022 passed by the Chief Minister is hereby quashed and set aside," the Court ordered..[Read order]