Supreme Court refuses to reinstate MVA govt in Maharashtra; raps governor for ordering floor test
Five-judge constitution bench of SC delivers unanimous verdict on Maharashtra political row
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to reinstate the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in Maharashtra for it resigned without facing a floor test even as it faulted the then governor BS Koshyari for directing it to prove its majority in the House. In a unanimous verdict, a five-judge Constitution Bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud said, “The Governor was not justified in calling upon Mr Thackeray to prove his majority on the floor of the House because he did not have reasons based on objective material before him to reach the conclusion that Mr Thackeray had lost the confidence of the House.
“However, the status quo ante can’t be restored because Mr Thackeray did not face the floor test and tendered his resignation. The Governor was, therefore, justified in inviting Mr (Eknath) Shinde to form the government at the behest of the BJP which was the largest political party in the House,” said the Bench, which also included Justice MR Shah, Justice Krishna Murari, Justice Hima Kohli and Justice PS Narasimha.
Interestingly, the top court had on June 29, 2022 given a go-ahead to the floor test called for by the then governor Koshyari who resigned in February this year. The Bench said the Maharashtra Assembly Speaker’s decision to appoint Bharat Gogawale of the Shinde faction as the whip of Shiv Sena was illegal.
“The Speaker on taking cognisance of the statement by Mr Shinde did not undertake to identify who was the whip and he should have undertaken an enquiry. The decision to appoint Mr Gogawale as chief whip was illegal since whip can be appointed only by the political party. To hold that the legislature party appoints the whip will be like to sever the umbilical cord… this is not the system as envisaged by the Constitution. 10th schedule will be rendered otiose,” it said.
The Constitution Bench also referred the 2016 Nabam Rebia verdict by a five-judge constitution bench, which relates to the power of Speaker on disqualification of MLAs, to a larger Bench of seven judges.
At the height of the political crisis in Maharashtra, the top court had, on June 29, 2022, refused to stay the governor’s direction to the Thackeray-led MVA government to take a floor test. Instead of facing the House, Thackeray chose to resign, paving the way for the installation of the Shiv Sena-BJP government led by Eknath Shinde on June 30, 2022.
In a setback to the Thackeray faction, the Election Commission on February 17, 2023, declared the Shinde faction as the real Shiv Sena and allotted it the party’s “bow and arrow” symbol.
On the role of the governor, the Bench said the governor must use objective criteria and not use subjective satisfaction. “Even if it is assumed that MLAs wanted to leave the (MVA) government, it was only dissatisfaction portrayed. Floor tests cannot be used as a medium to solve intra-party or inter-party differences. There is a difference between a party not supporting the government and members of some political party being unhappy,” it said.
The governor was not entitled to enter the political arena and play a role in an intra-party to inter-party dispute and he could not have acted on the basis that some members wanted to leave the Shiv Sena. “This cannot mean that they had withdrawn support from the floor of the House,” it added.