Sena vs Sena: SC to hear on March 7 plea of Thackeray faction against speaker's order

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday said it will list on March 7 the plea of the Uddhav Thackeray faction challenging Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar's order declaring the Shiv Sena bloc led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde as the "real political party" after the outfit's split in June 2022.

The Thackeray faction's plea was to be listed for hearing on March 1 before a bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the Thackeray faction, mentioned the plea and said it was not in the list of business. He urged the bench, also comprising Justice J B Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra, that it be listed on March 7.

"We will list it for hearing on March 7 (Thursday)," the chief justice of India said, adding that several matters, which were to be listed on March 1, could not be accommodated in the list as the bench has to rise early.

On February 5 and 12, the top court assured early listing of the plea after Sibal mentioned it.

The Supreme Court on January 22 issued notices to Chief Minister Shinde and other lawmakers of his group on the Thackeray bloc's plea challenging the speaker's order. The court had then ordered its listing after two weeks.

The Thackeray faction has alleged that Shinde "unconstitutionally usurped power" and is heading an "unconstitutional government" in Maharashtra.

In an order passed on January 10, Speaker Narwekar rejected the Thackeray faction's plea to disqualify 16 MLAs of the ruling camp, including Shinde.

The Thackeray faction has termed the speaker's order "patently unlawful and perverse" and instead of punishing the act of defection, they reward the defectors by holding that they comprise the real political party.