HC issues notice to Maha Assembly speaker on NCP disqualification issue
The Bombay High Court on Wednesday issued notice to Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar and ten MLAs from the NCP Sharad Pawar faction on a petition filed by Anil Patil, chief whip of the NCP faction led by state Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, seeking their disqualification.
Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Wednesday issued notice to Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar and ten MLAs from the NCP Sharad Pawar faction on a petition filed by Anil Patil, chief whip of the NCP faction led by state Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, seeking their disqualification.
A division bench of Justices Girish Kulkarni and Firdosh Pooniwalla, while issuing the notice, directed the respondents to file their reply affidavits before the next date of hearing on March 14.
The court has also issued notice to the Maharashtra Legislature Secretariat.
Patil’s petition questions the “legality, propriety, and correctness” of Speaker Rahul Narvekar’s order dismissing their disqualification plea against the MLAs of the Sharad Pawar faction. He has sought the quashing of the order to the extent of the disqualification issue. The plea also seeks the disqualification of the ten MLAs on the other side.
It may be remembered that on February 16, Speaker Narwekar declared that the rival faction headed by Ajit Pawar is ‘the real political party’. However, the Speaker refused to disqualify MLAs from rival factions.