Supreme Court directed Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to produce the two letters tomorrow- one by the Governor inviting the Bharatiya Janata Party to form government in Maharashtra and second the letter of support placed by Fadnavis. The top court said that the appropriate orders will be passed at 10.30AM tomorrow.
The Arguments:
During the hearing of a petition filed by the Sena-Congress-NCP trio against the appointment of Devendra Fadnavis as the Maharashtra Chief Minister on Sunday, senior counsel Kapil Sibal told the 3-judge bench, “It appears that the Governor is acting directly under the orders of a political party. The act of Governor smacks of bias, is mala fide contrary to all norms. Only thing to do today is if they believe they have the numbers, majority and can prove their support, they should be directed to conduct floor test today itself.”
He said, “Floor test must be conducted, because people of Maharashtra deserve a government. They don’t want to do it because they want to use the intervening time.”
Mukul Rohatgi who represented BJP and Independent MLAs said, “I was on Karnataka case also. This case should have gone through 226 jurisdiction first. The government has been formed for now so there is no reason for this Sunday hearing”. The judges have hit back to his argument and said that it is the discretion of the CJI, Mr. Rohatgi.”
Recounting the Supreme Court order in Karnataka case, Singhvi asked for the floor test of Maharashtra to be televised. He said, “The best way to decide this is to have a floor test and the source of this is the SR Bommai judgment. The idea to hold quick floor test is to prevent horse trading.”
Citing Article 361, Rohatgi told the Supreme Court that Governor is not subjected to judicial review. He said, “No doubt that the floor test is inevitable but the decision of the Governor are not subject to judicial review. When governor chooses the chief minister, it is not open to judicial review. It is his individual discretion, not guided by the Cabinet.”