The Supreme Court
on Monday extended time till February 15 for Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul
Narwekar to decide pleas of the Sharad Pawar faction seeking disqualification
of NCP MLAs affiliated to Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar's group.
A bench comprising
Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra took
note of the submissions of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the
office of the speaker, that some more time will be needed to pass orders on the
disqualification pleas.
Earlier, the top
court had granted time till January 31 to the speaker to decide the
disqualification pleas pertaining to the NCP MLAs who had switched sides to be
part of the Eknath Shinde-led state government.
"In his
(speaker's) order dated January 25, the speaker has indicated that
cross-examination of the witnesses for respondents (NCP factions) could not be
concluded and with consent of the parties following time schedule is prescribed
and that matter will end on January 31 for orders.
"We grant
time till February 15, 2024 to finish dictation of the orders (by the
speaker)," the bench said in its order.
A plea was filed
by Jayant Patil of the Sharad Pawar faction of the Nationalist Congress Party
for a direction to the speaker to expeditiously decide the disqualification
petitions against Ajit Pawar and MLAs loyal to him.