PIL challenging withdrawal of Thackeray government’s MLC recommendations dismissed

Mumbai:In a major setback to the Uddhav Thackeray faction of Shiv Sena, the Bombay high court on Thursday dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) challenging the former Maharashtra Governor B.S. Koshyari’s September 2022 decision to withdraw 12 MLC nominations recommended by the then chief minister Thackeray-led MVA govt.The PIL filed by Shiv Sena (UBT) member and former Kolhapur corporator Sunil Modi.

A Bench of Chief Justice D.K. Upadhyaya and Justice Atul Borkar held that the petition was “misconceived” and “liable to be dismissed”.

Sunil Modi had filed the PIL in July 2023 after Mr. Koshyari accepted the then Eknath Shinde-led government’s decision to withdraw the 12 MLC nominations, which were recommended by the Thackeray government in November 2020.

On October 7, the high court had reserved its judgment in the matter. Before concluding the hearing and reserving its judgment, the high court had questioned whether the petition had lost its efficacy in light of the petitioner’s submission that the governor was bound to accept the advice of the council of ministers. “Now that the recommendations have been withdrawn, isn’t the governor bound by the said decision?” the bench had remarked.

Interestingly, Mr. Modi has also challenged the current Maharashtra Governor C.P. Radhakrishnan’s approval to the new list of seven MLCs recommended by former chief minister Eknath Shinde just before the announcement of the Maharashtra Assembly elections. In the petition, he has argued that the Governor could not have approved these names while the court’s judgment was pending on the withdrawal of the earlier list.