New Delhi: Asserting that he would neither rush nor delay the process of hearing the disqualification of 16 Shiv Sena MLAs of the Eknath Shinde camp, Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narvekar on May 15 assured that he would take an appropriate decision at the earliest. Respecting the constitutional principles and the guidelines of the recent Supreme Court judgment in the case of rival Shiv Sena factions.
Mr Narvekar, who returned from a UK trip in the evening, said he would not take a decision based on anyone’s demand, even as a delegation of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) party submitted a memorandum to his office urging the Speaker to To decide on the petition within 15 days.
Mr. Narvekar said, “There is a basic justice in jurisprudence that justice done in haste is buried, and justice delayed is justice denied.” He added: “We will try to decide on the disqualification petitions at the earliest.”
The Speaker stressed that it was a “lengthy process” and that questions such as who represented the political party [at the time of Eknath Shinde’s rebellion] and who was the authorized whip at that time would have to be considered.
“Rest assured, all decisions will be taken respecting the law, constitutional principles and the guidelines laid down in the SC judgment. Several procedural aspects have to be met. As to what constitutes a ‘reasonable time period’, we have to take a retrospective decision in this matter. So, I cannot say what would be a reasonable time period. It could be 15 days, it could be more than that… I am not concerned with what anybody demands or claims outside the assembly as to what should be the time limit [for the hearing],” Mr Narvekar said, when asked about the demands of the Thackeray group.
A delegation of Shiv Sena (UBT) submitted a 79-page memorandum to Deputy Speaker Narhari Jirwal at Vidhan Sabha Bhavan on Monday.
“We urge the Speaker to conduct a hearing at the earliest and take a decision as per the guidelines of the SC judgment. We have the right to demand that the decision be taken at the earliest. After Mr. Shinde’s rebellion.
