Maharashtra Guv erred but, can’t restore MVA govt as Uddhav Thackeray resigned voluntarily: Supreme Court | 10 points

A Supreme Court bench headed by the Chief Justice of India, DY Chandrachud, hearing a bunch of petitions on the Shiv Sena case on Thursday ruled that the decision from the then Maharashtra Governor BS Koshyari to conduct a Floor Test was not in accordance with the Constitution.

The Supreme Court also ruled that it cannot disqualify the Eknath Shinde-led government and restore Uddhav Thackeray's Maha Vikas Agadhi (MVA) government as it was the latter who had chosen to resign and not face the Floor Test. The judgment was delivered by a five-judge bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices MR Shah, Justice Krishna Murari, Justice Hima Kohli, and PS Narasimha.

Here are key highlights from the Supreme Court judgment:

1. The Supreme Court bench noted that the Speaker's decision to appoint Bharat Gogawale a whip of the Eknath Shinde group was "wrong" as it has to be appointed by a political party.

2. While reading out the judgment, the Supreme Court referred its 2016 judgment in the Nabam Rebia case to a larger bench for judgment in the case of the defection of 16 MLAs in June 2022 from the then Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena.

3. The Thackeray faction had sought disqualification of the MLAs under the anti-defection law of the country.

4. The Supreme Court said the Speaker must decide on disqualification petitions within a reasonable time.

5. Governor was wrong in relying on the resolution of a few MLAs to come to the conclusion that the Uddhav Thackeray government had lost the majority, the court said.

6. Governor had no evidence of communication indicating that the dissatisfied MLAs sought to withdraw their support to the government, the top court observed.

7. The court said a party cannot use a Floor Test to settle inter and intra-party disputes.

8. After the hearing, Uddhav Thackeray said if Eknath Shinde has any morality he should submit his resignation as he did.

9. He said people who had left his party had no right to ask him questions.

10. In response, Eknath Shinde came down heavily on Uddhav Thackeray, saying that: "Is he [Uddhav Thackeray] above SC or ECI that he will not let us appoint our Whip or any other office bearer and not let us use the name Shiv Sena."