Mumbai: Referring to the differences between Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and Governor B S Koshyari on various issues, the Bombay High Court on Wednesday said it is “unfortunate” that the state’s two supreme Constitutional office bearers “do not have faith in each other.” A bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Dutta and Justice MS Karnik said it would be appropriate for the Chief Minister and the Governor to sit together and resolve differences.
The court made the oral observation while hearing two PILs challenging the process of selection of the Speaker of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly. These petitions have been filed through advocates Mahesh Jethmalani and Subhash Jha. The court dismissed the petitions after long arguments. The bench said that the procedure does not violate the fundamental right of citizens to be guaranteed equality before the law as provided under Article 14 of the Constitution.
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One of these petitions was filed by Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Girish Mahajan. His counsel Jethmalani told the court that the present procedure, which has been brought in through an amendment in December 2021, only vests the Chief Minister with the power to suggest to the Governor for the selection of the Speaker.
This is unconstitutional and the Governor should be suggested not only by the Chief Minister but by the Council of Ministers. Jethmalani argued that by not interfering in the issue, the court would fail to protect the public interest. The High Court said that the petitioners will have to give more arguments to prove how the general public is being affected by the election of the Speaker of the Assembly.
“The public is least interested in who will be the Speaker of the Assembly,” the court said. Go and ask the public who is the Speaker of the Lok Sabha? How many people present in this court know the answer?” “You have to prove that the issue is related to public interest,” the bench said. The Speaker is only a member of the legislature. What does it have to do with the public interest?” The Speaker’s post in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly has been lying vacant after Nana Patole became the state unit president of the Congress last year.
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The court also referred to the recent standoff between the Chief Minister of Maharashtra and the Governor over the nomination of 12 members of the Legislative Council in the state (under the Governor’s reservation). The issue was raised before the court last year through a PIL and in August 2021 another bench headed by Chief Justice Dipankar Dutta held that it was the duty of Governor Koshyari to announce his decision on nomination in due course. .
The court had then said that the governor should speak to the chief minister. The High Court on Wednesday said the governor has not yet taken any decision on the nomination, despite his order being passed “about eight months ago”. “Then it was argued that democracy would collapse, etc.,” the High Court said.
The bench said, “The governor has not nominated 12 councilors yet, so has democracy collapsed….Our democracy is not that weak.” The bench said that it is not proper for the appellate court to interfere in all legislative matters. “We must have a little faith in the discretion of the governor.
The Chief Minister is the head of the state. We can’t call either of them wrong here. It is quite unfortunate that the two highest constitutional functionaries of the state do not have faith in each other. You two should meet together to resolve this issue.” Subsequently, the court, while dismissing the petitions, also asked where such an amendment prevented other legislators from giving their suggestions on the election of the Speaker.
The court also said that the amount of Rs 10 lakh deposited by Mahajan at the beginning of the hearing and Rs 2 lakh deposited by Janak Vyas, the total amount of Rs 12 lakh, be kept forfeited. (agency)