In the wake of the Supreme Court’s order directing a floor test in the Maharashtra Assembly, the Shiv Sena, the NCP and the Congress have moved an application seeking a stay on any policy decisions made by the fledgling Devendra Fadnavis government.
Senior Counsel Kapil Sibal mentioned the application before the Bench of Justices NV Ramana, Ashok Bhushan and Sanjiv Khanna. The Court, however, did not respond to the same.
The application has been filed in light of news reports suggesting that as many as nine cases against Ajit Pawar in relation to the Irrigation Scam have been closed by the Anti-Corruption Bureau. This kind of closure of serious economic effences before the floor test has been completed is “illegal”, according to the Maha Aghadi parties. The application states,
“as per the constitutional convention and settled rule of law, the incumbent government cannot take any major policy decisions until the floor test is over. It is submitted the incumbent government can only undertake routine day to day administrative decisions, and cannot take any major policy decisions.”
Therefore, the parties have moved the Court seeking a stay on the order directing closure of the cases, as well as a direction to the “minority government” in the State led by Fadnavis to not take any major policy decisions till the floor test is complete.
The parties had earlier moved the Supreme Court challenging the decision of the Governor of Maharashtra to install a BJP-led government, claiming that it is a “minority government”. The parties had sought an urgent floor test for show of strength in the Assembly.
The Supreme Court today ordered for a floor test to be held on November 27. The proceedings of the floor test will be telecast live.
A pro tem Speaker will be appointed with the sole purpose of conducting the floor test, the Court also held. It was further ordered that the proceedings of the floor test shall be completed by 5 PM and that secret ballot will not be followed.
