SC lists plea against suspension of 12 Maharashtra assembly members for hearing
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The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to list the plea of 12 BJP MLAs from Maharashtra for hearing. The 12 approached the court challenging their one-year suspension from the state assembly for allegedly misbehaving with the presiding officer Bhaskar Jadhav in the speaker's chamber.
Lawyer Siddharth Dharmadhikari informed the bench headed by Chief Justice NV Ramana and comprising Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli that the winter session of the state assembly is likely to begin. He further added that the plea against the suspension, therefore, needs an urgent hearing. The plea was filed on July 22 after the MLAs were suspended on July 5.
"All right, we will give a date (for hearing)," said the bench.
The Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi government, led by chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, is expected to hold the winter session of the state assembly between December 22 and 28 in Mumbai.
The motion to suspend the 12- Sanjay Kute, Ashish Shelar, Abhimanyu Pawar, Girish Mahajan, Atul Bhatkhalkar, Parag Alavani, Harish Pimpale, Yogesh Sagar, Jay Kumar Rawat, Narayan Kuche, Ram Satpute and Bunty Bhangdia- was moved by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Anil Parab and passed by a voice note.
Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis had termed the allegation as false and 'one-sided'. "This is a false allegation and an attempt to reduce the numbers of opposition benches, because we exposed the government's falsehood on the OBC quota in local bodies," Fadnavis said. BJP members had not abused the presiding officer, he added.
Jadhav, on the other hand, had sought a probe into the allegation that some Shiv Sena members and he himself made uncharitable remarks. If proven true, he is ready to face any punishment, he said.
"Today is a black day for me. Abusive words were directed at me. Some people are saying I made uncharitable remarks. Let there be a probe into it after checking the CCTV footage. If I have used any inappropriate language, I am ready to face any punishment," Jadhav had said.