Supreme Court declined reference of Shiv Sena Rift to the larger bench: case to be heard on February 21, 2023.

On February 17, 2023, the Constitution bench of the Supreme Court declined the plea for reference to a larger bench made by Uddhav Thackeray's side so as to reconsider the judgment passed in the Nabam Rebia case. The bench including Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justices PS Narasimha, MR Shah, Hima Kohli, and Krishna Murari heard a bunch of petitions related to Maharashtra politics including a rift within the Shiv Sena Party between Eknath Shinde and Uddhav Thackeray groups. The next hearing of the case was listed on February 21, 2023.

 While addressing the case, the justices considered the statement under the Nabam Rebia vs Deputy Speaker case, stating that disqualification petitions cannot be decided by the speaker if a notice for removal is pending under Article 179 (c) of the Indian Constitution. This case was invoked by the Shinde group in this Shiv Sena rift case to argue that the Deputy speaker cannot proceed against the dissident MLAs under the tenth schedule as a notice for removal is still pending. The Supreme Court’s vacation judge extended the time for the same till July 12 on June 27, 2022. The very next day, Thackeray government was asked by the governor to seek a trust vote on 30th June 2022 which was refused by the vacation bench of the top Court. Uddhav Thackeray then announced his resignation as the Chief Minister. The case was, therefore, referred to a larger bench (5-judge bench) with 11 issues including the correctness of Nabam Rebia case.  

Today, the Apex Court while hearing the Shiv Sena Rift case held that “The issue of whether a reference to a bench of 7-judges is to be made cannot be considered in the abstract, isolated and divorced from the facts of the case. Whether the principle formulated in Nabam Rebia has an impact on the factual position in the present case needs deliberation. In the above backdrop, the issue whether the reference of the decision in Nabam Rebia to a larger bench is warranted would be determined together with the merits of the case. Consequently, the batch of cases is set down for hearing on merits on Tuesday, February 21.”  

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