CJI on Maha case: Speakercan’t defeat orders of SC

NEW DELHI: The delay in deciding the disqualification petitions against Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Shiv Sena MLAs loyal to him Friday came under strict scrutiny by the Supreme Court which came down hard on the Maharashtra assembly speaker, saying the proceedings cannot be a “charade” and he cannot “defeat” its orders.

A bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing Speaker Rahul Narwekar, to apprise it about the timeline for deciding the petitions on Tuesday, saying it will pass a “peremptory order” if it is not satisfied.

“Somebody has to advise the (assembly) speaker. He cannot defeat the orders of the Supreme Court. What kind of time schedule is he prescribing?...This (disqualification proceedings) is a summary procedure. Last time, we thought, better sense will prevail and had asked him to lay down a time schedule...,” said the bench.

The idea of laying down the time schedule was not to “indefinitely delay” the hearing on the disqualification proceedings, the court said.

A visibly irked CJI said a decision on disqualification pleas has to be taken before the next assembly elections otherwise the whole process will become infructuous.

The next state assembly polls will likely be held around September-October 2024. “These decisions have to be taken well before the next elections. The idea should not be that, well, allow this to go on merrily so that the whole exercise becomes infructuous,” the bench said.

It said the apex court was not going to tells as to what applications the speaker should decide. “But, he must give the impression that he is taking matters seriously. He must hear it day-to-day and complete hearing,” the CJI said.