Thackeray-Shinde row: Supreme Court to decide later on referring pleas to 7-judge Bench

The apex court listed the case for hearing on merits on February 21.

The Supreme Court on Friday, February 17, 2023, decided to hear the merits of a bitter political battle between rivals, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and his predecessor Uddhav Thackeray, for control over Shiv Sena and not digress from the factual aspects of the dispute for now by referring to a seven-judge Bench a legal question based on a 2016 judgment.

During the hearing of the case, Mr. Thackeray’s camp had questioned the correctness of a legal principle laid down by a Constitution Bench in Nabam Rebia case in 2016 that a Speaker facing a notice of resolution for his removal cannot decide disqualification proceedings against legislators under the anti-defection law (Tenth Schedule) without first clearing his name.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, for Mr. Thackeray, had contended that the principle in the Nabam Rebia case had to be referred to and re-examined by a large Bench of seven judges before proceeding with the hearing on the merits of the Shinde-Thackeray dispute.

He had argued that the principle tied the hands of the Speaker, making him unable to function as a Tribunal under the Tenth Schedule while giving free play to horse-trading in the House.

He had pointed to how the Shinde group, facing disqualification proceedings last year before Thackeray government fell, had taken advantage of the Nabam Rebia judgment to stonewall then Deputy Speaker Narhari Zariwal by issuing a notice for his removal from the post.

The Thackeray camp urged a five-judge Bench led by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud, which is hearing the dispute, to refer the legal question to a larger Bench before continuing with the examination of the merits of the case at hand.

Differing with Mr. Sibal’s point of view, the five-judge Bench on Friday said it cannot make such a reference in the “abstract”. Reading out the short order, Chief Justice Chandrachud said the question of reference to a larger Bench cannot be “isolated or divorced” from the facts of Shinde-Thackeray quarrel.