The Supreme Court on Monday directed Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar to decide disqualification petitions filed under the Tenth Schedule (anti-defection law) of the Constitution against the Chief Minister Eknath Shinde camp in the Shiv Sena dispute by December 31, 2023.
A three-judge Bench led by Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud ordered the Speaker, in his capacity as a tribunal under the Tenth Schedule, to decide the disqualification petitions against the breakaway faction headed by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar in the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) dispute by January 31, 2024.
“So we are giving the Speaker two months to decide the disqualification petitions in the Shiv Sena case and a month more in the Nationalist Congress Party case. That is fair. It is reasonable time,” Chief Justice Chandrachud addressed the lawyers on both sides.
