Uddhav Thackeray (left) and Rahul Narwekar. (File)
The two-week notice is not a deadline for the Speaker to give a final decision, but just for him to respond to the petition. “I haven’t got the notice yet. After getting it, we will study it and take appropriate action,” Rahul Narwekar told News18
The Supreme Court (SC) has issued a notice to Maharashtra State Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar, giving him two weeks to reply on the process followed so far on the disqualification of 16 MLAs of the Shiv Sena.
This two-week notice is not a deadline for the Speaker to give a final decision, but just for the Speaker to give his opinion and respond to the petition.
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The Thackeray group had demanded disqualification of the MLAs who had gone with Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, after rebelling against Thackeray and splitting the Sena. The Supreme Court had said that the Speaker is the authority who can take a decision on this matter.
Although the hearing has been going on for three months, the Speaker has not yet taken any decision. So the Thackeray group filed a petition in the Supreme Court against him. The hearing was conducted on Friday before a three-judge bench headed by the Chief Justice. The petition requested the Speaker to take immediate decision on this issue.
Speaking to News18 over the phone, Narwekar said, “I have got to know from media reports about the notice issued to me by the Honourable Supreme Court. At this moment, I haven’t got the notice. After getting the actual notice, we will study it and take appropriate action.”
DELAY DELIBERATE, SAYS THE PETITION
The Thackeray group filed the petition in the beginning of July and demanded that the Speaker be directed to hear the disqualification petitions of the MLAs expeditiously. The petition claimed that Narwekar was deliberately delaying the hearing, even as the Supreme Court, in its May 11 judgment, directed the Speaker to decide on the petitions in a time-bound manner.
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Last week, Narwekar had issued notices to 40 MLAs of the Shiv Sena faction led by Eknath Shinde and 14 of the Shiv Sena (UBT) and asked to file their reply on the disqualification petition.
Speaking to News18, Shiv Sena leader Sunil Prabhu said, “We met the Speaker regarding the same issue more than twice. We also requested him to expedite the process, but as there was no development, we had to move to the apex court, who had asked him to take final decision. Now, the SC has asked him to file a reply on the process followed in this issue.”
