Governor’s Call For Floor Test Illegal, Didn’t Consider Disqualification Notices, Sena To SC

NEW DELHI:
Shiv Sena chief whip Sunil Prabhu, in his plea in the Supreme Court, termed the Maharashtra Governor’s direction to the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government to take a floor test and prove its majority on Thursday (June 30) illegal, as he didn’t take into account the Deputy Speaker’s disqualification notices to 16 rebel MLAs.

Prabhu’s plea said the Governor’s communication, issued on June 28, which was received by them at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, is in complete defiance of the fact that the top court is seized of the issue of the disqualification proceedings against the rebel Sena MLAs.

It contended that the top court is considering the validity of the disqualification proceedings and has kept the matter for hearing on July 11, and the issue of disqualification is directly connected/interlinked with the issue of floor test.

“The Governor has also not bothered about the pendency of disqualification petitions nor has he taken into consideration that this court, while being seized of writ petitions challenging the issuance of notice by the Deputy Speaker has, vide order dated June 27, issued notice and directed the matter to be listed on July 11 for further consideration,” said the plea.

As Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi mentioned the plea before the court in the morning, the vacation bench of Justices Surya Kant and J.B. Pardiwala agreed to take up the plea at 5 p.m.

The plea said: “It is most respectfully submitted that the said communications of the Governor are liable to be set aside since the Governor has illegally invoked Article 175(2) of the Constitution to send a message to the Assembly for conduct of a floor test..”

The plea said the impugned directions ought not to have been issued without the aid and advice of the Council of the Ministers led by the Chief Minister.

“It is surprising that the Leader of Opposition admittedly meets the Governor at 10 p.m. on June 28 and the impugned communications are also of the same date. This only shows the undue haste with which the Governor has acted without even asking the CM of his views in respect of the political scenario in the state,” it added.

The plea claimed that the directions, it seems, have been issued on the “aid and advice of the Leader of Opposition”, which is clearly not contemplated under the constitution.

“In view of the undue haste with which the Governor has proceeded to act on the request of the Leader of Opposition to direct the conduct of a floor test, it is submitted that the impugned communication/directions is completely arbitrary and illegal and therefore violative of Article 14 of the Constitution, apart from giving a fillip to the Constitutionally abhorrent sin of defection which the Tenth Schedule seeks to curtail,” it said.