Supreme Court said the issues related to the Maharashtra political crisis, triggered by the differences in the Shiv Sena, are tough constitutional questions to decide as they have very serious ramifications for the polity.
Expressing disagreement with the submission of senior advocate Harish Salve, appearing for the Eknath Shinde faction of the Shiv Sena, a five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud said the issue is not merely an academic exercise.
It’s a tough constitutional issue to answer for this reason because the consequences of both positions have serious ramifications on the polity. If you take Nabam Rebia (2016 SC judgement) position, as we have seen in Maharashtra- it allows the free flow of human capital from one political party to other.
On the other end is that even if the leader of the political party has lost his flock, he can hold it down. So, adopting it would mean ensuring a political status quo though the leader has effectively lost his or her leadership over a group of legislators if we go against Nabam Rebia. Whichever way you accept, both ends of the political spectrum have very serious consequences. Both are not desirable, the court observed.
In 2016, a five-judge constitution bench, while deciding the Nabam Rebia case of Arunachal Pradesh, had held that the assembly speaker cannot proceed with a plea for disqualification of MLAs if a prior notice seeking removal of the speaker is pending decision in the House.
The judgement had come to the rescue of the rebel MLAs led by Eknath Shinde, now the chief minister of Maharashtra. The Thackeray faction had sought their disqualification even while a notice of the Shinde group for the removal of Maharashtra Assembly deputy speaker Narhari Sitaram Zirwal, a Thackeray loyalist, was pending before the House.
Salve submitted before the bench, which also comprised justices M R Shah, Krishna Murari, Hima Kohli and P S Narasimha, that the issues which have now transpired are such that there is no need for reference.
The anti-defection law is not a law for a leader who has lost the faith of his members, he said, adding these are delicate constitutional issues which should be resolved in a fit case where such issues arise. Do such issues arise here? The answer is a resounding, no, he said.