[Maharashtra Politics] 48-hour window sufficient to reply to disqualification notice: Deputy Speaker to Supreme Court

The 48-hour window given to rebel MLAs belonging to the Eknath Shinde camp to respond to the disqualification notices sent to them was sufficient and cannot be said to be unreasonable, the Deputy Speaker of Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Narhari Zirwal has told the Supreme Court. .If the rebel MLAs could move the Supreme Court in 24 hours, they could very well have replied to the disqualification notices within 48 hours, Zirwal said."I state that there is absolutely no illegality in 48 hours being given to the petitioners to respond to the disqualification petitions. First of all 48 hours was given in the first instance. The Petitioner never approached me and sought time .... when the Respondents have within 24 hours approached the Supreme Court and challenged the notice issued by me, I fail to understand as to how and why 48 hours notice for them to file their replies in the first instance is itself unreasonable and violates the rules of natural justice," the counter affidavit filed by Zirwal stated.Zirwal was responding to a plea by the Eknath Shinde group challenging the appointment of Ajay Choudhari as Shiv Sena Legislature Party leader and the disqualification notices issued by Zirwal to 16 rebel MLAs belonging to the Shinde camp. The plea by Shinde camp had said as per the judgment of the top court in Nabam Rebia and Bamang Felix v Deputy Speaker Arunachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly & Ors, since there was a no-confidence motion pending against Zirwal seeking his removal as Deputy Speaker, he was ineligible to decide any disqualification petition till the pending motion against him was decided. However, Zirwal in his reply has stated that the Nabam Rebia judgment will not be applicable in the present case as there was no valid notice of removal issued during an assembly session.This was because the notice of no-confidence motion against him seeking his removal, was not sent by a Member of Legislative Assembly but was sent by a lawyer and was, therefore, not a valid notice under Article 179(c) of the Constitution.Zirwal further submitted that the representation was received on a Shiv Sena party letterhead was not taken on record as it was not sent from the official email ID of any MLA. Since it was sent by an advocate, Zirwal in order to verify its authenticity replied to the email id asking the signatories to the notice to verify its authenticity. "Therefore, until and unless I was satisfied that this was not a mischief by someone I was dutybound and entitled to take a view that unless and until any of the signatories satisfy me by personal appearance or otherwise that they had actually signed the resolution, there was no question of taking them on record," the counter-affidavit said.Had he taken it on record then and it proved to be fake, he would have been guilty of dereliction of duty, Zirwal submitted. .Maharashtra has been embroiled in political crisis after Cabinet Minister, and now new Chief Minister, Eknath Shinde and a rebel group of MLAs left the State first for Surat in Gujarat and then for Guwahati where they were encamped for more than a week now.The Shinde group has expressed its displeasure with the alliance by Shiv Sena with the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party, then headed by Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray.The Supreme Court had earlier granted interim relief to Eknath Shinde and his rebel group of MLAs by extending the time to file response to the disqualification notice sent by the Deputy Speaker, till July 12. It had also given the go-ahead to a floor test called for by the Governor. This had led to the fall of Mahavikas Aghadi government led by Uddhav Thackeray and a new government led by Eknath Shinde was sworn in.