SC to consider if Shiv Sena factional dispute needs to be referred to a seven-judge Bench
The HinduA five-judge Bench of the Supreme Court on December 13 said it will consider on January 10 whether the political battle between Uddhav Thackeray and Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde over the “real” Shiv Sena needs to be referred to a larger Bench of seven judges. The lawyers argued that the three-judge Bench had raised “important constitutional questions relating to interpretation of Tenth Schedule of the Constitution pertaining to disqualification, as well as the powers of the Speaker and the Governor and the power of judicial review”. It had highlighted gaps in the court’s 2016 five-judge Constitution Bench judgment in the Nabam Rebia case which had related to the power of the Speaker/Deputy Speaker to initiate disqualification proceedings, when proceedings for his own removal from office had been initiated. The Constitution Bench has also been called to decide whether the notice for removal of a Speaker restricts him from continuing with disqualification proceedings; whether a constitutional court an be approached for a decision on a disqualification petition; can a court hold that a member is “deemed” to be disqualified by virtue of his/her actions, absent a decision by the Speaker; what is the status of proceedings in the House during the pendency of disqualification petitions against the members, among others.