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The Supreme Court on Sunday ordered the Centre to produce by Monday morning Maharashtra governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari’s letter to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s Devendra Fadnavis to form a government in the state.
A three-judge bench of the court also asked the central government to produce the letters of support by legislators submitted by Fadvavis to the governor.
The court asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to produce letters of the governor on Monday 10.30 am. Mehta sought two days’ time, a request that was declined by the court, news agency PTI reported.
A bench of Justices NV Ramana, Ashok Bhushan and Sanjiv Khanna were hearing a petition filed by Shiv Sena, Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) against the formation of a new government by BJP in Maharashtra.
In a surprise move, Devendra Fadnavis was sworn in as chief minister and Ajit Pawar of the NCP as the deputy CM by the governor on Saturday morning.
Sena, NCP and Congress urged the top court to direct the governor to conduct a floor test and let chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis prove majority on the floor of the House on Sunday itself.
The court said it will decide on the issue of floor test at its hearing on Monday.
On Saturday, both the BJP and the opposition camps had said the floor test was November 30 but there was no official word from the governor’s office.
Kapil Sibal, who is among the lawyers representing the three parties, said there is “nothing on record”. “We do not know what letter was submitted in support of BJP to form the government,” he said.
BJP was represented by senior lawyer Mukul Rohatgi who argued that the governor exercised individual discretion in inviting Fadnavis to form government. “This action of governor is immune from judicial scrutiny,” he said.
The petitioners had questioned the “haste” behind the governor’s move and sought to know how he arrived at the decision to invite Fadnavis.
In a day filled with drama, NCP chief Sharad Pawar said his nephew Ajit Pawar’s decision to ally with the BJP was an act of indiscipline. The Maratha strongman warned that Ajit and other MLAs of the NCP who switched sides will attract provisions of the anti-defection law.
Pawar, in a joint press conference with Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray, said the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress combine will form the government because BJP doesn’t have the numbers to clear a floor test.
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