Rebel MLAs get protection from disqualification as SC adjourns plea

New Delhi, July 11: In a big relief to Eknath Shinde' camp, the Supreme Court on Monday refused an urgent hearing on pleas filed by the Uddhav Thackeray faction on Maharashtra political crisis.

The apex deferred the hearing on both disqualification proceedings - one initiated by deputy Speaker against rebel Sena MLAs and present Speaker's counter proceedings against other faction Sena MLAs saying the matter would take some time to be listed.

It also ordered the Solicitor General to inform the Speaker of Maharashtra to not take any action against the 16 rebel Shiv Sena MLAs.

The bench was hearing the petitions on trust vote issues, appointment of chief whip in the assembly by the newly-elected speaker and disqualification pleas pending against 16 rebel Sena MLAs.

All these cases were directed to be listed by the vacation benches of the court on July 11, which is the first day after the Supreme Court reopens post its summer vacations.

Despite the order from the vacation bench, the Maharashtra cases were not listed for hearing in the Supreme court causelist released on Sunday or updated early Monday morning.

Disqualification notices were issued to 16 rebel MLAs of the Eknath Shinde-led faction by Maharashtra Deputy Speaker on June 25 when the faction was camping in Assam's Guwahati city.

Senior advocate Devadatt Kamat, appearing for Shiv Sena leader Subhash Desai, had challenged the Governor's June 30 decision to invite a coalition of the Shinde faction and the BJP to form government in Maharashtra.

The Thackeray-led faction has also challenged the validity of assembly proceedings held on July 3 and July 4 during which a new speaker was elected to the House. They also challenged subsequent proceedings of floor test in which the Shinde led coalition had proved its majority.

Rebellion by a section of Sena MLAs, led by Shinde, had resulted in the collapse of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government. The Uddhav camp argued that 16 MLAs who are facing disqualification proceedings should not have participated in the floor test. The Uddhav camp has also filed a no-confidence motion against Speaker Rahul Narvekar.

Shinde took the oath as Chief Minister, with the BJP's Devendra Fadnavis as his Deputy, on June 30, after two weeks of political tussle that spanned four states. During the test of strength in Assembly, 40 of the 55 Shiv Sena MLAs supported him.