The Supreme Court on Thursday said Uddhav Thackeray can not be reinstated as the Maharashtra Chief Minister, as he resigned from the post.
The top court also ruled, however, that the floor test called by the Governor, BS Koshyari, which toppled the Uddhav Thackeray-led government was ‘illegal.’
The Governor erroneously concluded Mr Thackeray lost majority in the House, the Supreme Court observed, adding that floor tests can not be used as a means to resolve inter-party or intra-party disputes.
‘Neither the Constitution nor the law empower the governor to enter the political arena and play a role either in inter-party or intra-party disputes,’ the Supreme Court observed.
To that end, the top court said it could have reinstated Mr Thackeray’s government, had he not resigned.
The Supreme Court also held that the Speaker’s decision to appoint the Shinde faction’s candidate Bharat Gogawale as the chief whip of the Shiv Sena party was ‘illegal.’ Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis and the independent MLAs did not move a no-confidence motion and the governor’s exercise of discretion was not in accordance of the law, according to the court.
‘Even if it is assumed that the MLAs wanted to exit the govt, they constituted only a faction,’ Chief Justice DY Chandrachud said.
‘Nothing in any of the communications relied on by the Governor indicated that the dissatisfied MLAs wanted to withdraw support to the Government,’ the court added.
The Supreme Court said the Speaker and the Election Commission are to decide who the ‘real Shiv Sena’ will be.
The issue of disqualification of MPs will also be decided by the Speaker of the House.
The decision was delivered by a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud who clustered eight petitions on the face-off.
Soon after the verdict, former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said, ‘Eknath Shinde won after murdering democracy. He should now resign on moral grounds.’
Sanjay Raut, Mr. Thackeray’s top aide, called it a ‘moral victory.’
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