Former CM should know for what purposes speaker could meet CM: Rahul Narwekar

After Uddhav Thackerayled Shiv Sena UBT moved to the Supreme Court on the SpeakerChief Minister meeting Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar slammed the former Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray and said that Thackeray should know for what purposes a speaker could meet a chief minister reported news agency ANIThe speaker met Shinde at Varsha the chief ministers official residence in south Mumbai on January 7He being the former CM must know about the role of speaker Speakers do meet CM for many works but when Uddhav Thackeray was CM he did get the time to know about what role the speaker has in assembly There are many purposes for which a speaker could meet a chief minister Rahul Narwekar told reporters on Wednesday reported ANIIn its application the Thackeray faction stated that the Speaker as the adjudicating authority under the Tenth Schedule is required to act fairly and impartiallyIt said the conduct of the Speaker must inspire confidence and justify the constitutional trust reposed in its high officeHowever the present act of the Speaker raises questions about the fairness and impartiality of the decisionmaking process Uddhav Thackerays application statedThe act of the Speaker is in violation of the legal maxim and this application has been filed in view of the alarming news that the Speaker met Shinde at his official residence on January 7 three days prior to the deadline when the decision in disqualification petitions against Shinde is to be pronounced on January 10 stated Uddhav Thackerays application reported ANIThe application said the meeting should be brought to notice to bring it on record and pass the order reported ANIThe application was filed in the petition pending before the apex court seeking expeditious disposal of disqualification petitions against the Shinde factionAhead of the crucial verdict by the assembly speaker on the crosspetitions by Shiv Sena factions seeking disqualification of each others MLAs following a split in the party the political temperature has risen in Maharashtra reported ANINarwekar is slated to deliver his muchawaited verdict on the disqualification pleas at 4 pm on Wednesday reported ANIOn December 15 2023 the Supreme Court extended till January 10 the time for the Speaker to pronounce a verdict on disqualification petitions against MLAs including ShindeEarlier the top court had rejected the proposal of the Maharashtra Speaker that he could conclude proceedings on crossdisqualification petitions filed by Shiv Sena factions by February 29 2024The CJI had pointed out that the Constitution bench judgement in the Shiv Sena case was delivered in May this year and the incidents took place in July 2022The apex court had expressed disapproval over the delay by the Speaker in deciding the disqualification petitions and said it had been asking the Speaker to decide on the matter for monthsThe disqualification pleas have been pending since the Maharashtra political crises started The plea sought direction for the Speaker to decide disqualification petitions within a timebound mannerThe disqualification petitions against the rebel MLAs were filed by Sunil Prabhu the Shiv Sena party Whip appointed by Uddhav Thackeray on 23 June 2022 after the MLAs revolted against Thackeray The notices of disqualification were issued by Deputy Speaker Narhari Zirwal in the absence of the SpeakerIn August 2022 the top courts threejudge bench referred to a fivejudge Constitution bench for the issues involved in the petition filed by rival groups of Shiv Sena about the Maharashtra political crisisOn June 29 2022 the top court gave a goahead to the floor test in the Maharashtra Assembly on June 30 It had refused to stay the Maharashtra Governors direction to the then Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to prove his majority support on the floor of the House on June 30After the apex courts order Uddhav Thackeray announced his resignation as the Chief Minister and Eknath Shinde was later sworn in as the Chief MinisterIn July last year the Ajit Pawar faction of the NCP also joined the Shindeled governmentWith inputs from ANI