The Supreme Court will on Friday pronounce its order on the prayer to refer its 2016 Constitution bench judgment in Nabam Rebia vs Deputy Speaker case to a larger bench for reconsideration. A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud on Thursday reserved its order on the plea that arises from petitions resulting from the political fallout in Maharashtra last year. This came up following differences in the Shiv Sena between groups owing allegiance to Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and his predecessor, Uddhav Thackeray. In the Nabam Rebia judgment, the SC had said that the Speaker of a House cannot decide a disqualification petition filed under the anti-defection law while a notice under Article 179(c) for the Speaker’s removal is pending. Contesting this, the Thackeray camp told the bench, also comprising Justices MR Shah, Krishna Murari, Hima Kohli and PS Narasimha, that by invoking it, MLAs who want to defect can preempt and stall disqualification proceedings against them by seeking the Speaker’s removal through a notice. The Shinde group had cited the ruling when the crisis unfolded in June last year to contend that the Deputy Speaker cannot proceed under Tenth schedule against the dissident Sena MLAs, as a notice seeking his removal was pending. During the hearing before the Constitution bench this week, the Shinde camp argued that the matter had become academic and there was no reason to refer it to a larger bench. Senior advocates Kapil Sibal and A M Singhvi, who appeared for the Thackeray side, urged the court to refer it to a seven-judge bench. Sibal contended that the matter had not become academic and that it has ramifications for the country’s democratic future. “.This is not about today. This is about tomorrow,” he said. “Don't thwart the issue by saying it does not arise. It will arise time and again. Elected governments will be toppled. And no democracy in the world allows this to happen.” Singhvi argued that the court must not distinguish the Rebia decision from the Sena matter. "Distinguishing Nabam Rebia will generate [more] future litigation than solve any problem. In a binary sense, either this Court agrees or refers it", he submitted. Appearing for the Shinde side, senior advocate Mahesh Jethmalani recalled last year's events leading to Thackeray stepping down as CM and said that the SC had then said that the Governor's direction to hold floor test will not prejudice the Speaker's power to decide on disqualification. However, Thackeray resigned even before the floor test, as he realised that he did not have the requisite numbers, and there was thus no prejudice to the Speaker to exercise his power of disqualification, Jethmalani submitted. The CJI remarked during the hearing that the matter raises “tough constitutional question to answer on both counts”.
