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Supreme Court declares Suspension Order of 12 Maharashtra based MLAs ‘Unconstitutional’

Shivani Gadhavi

Published On: January 28, 2022 at 15:58 IST

The Supreme Court of India on January 28, 2022 decided to put aside the Suspension of 12 Maharashtra based Members of the Legislative Assembly representing the Bhartiya Janata Party from the Assembly, stating that the Suspension Order is ‘Unconstitutional’.

A Supreme Court Bench headed by Justice A M Khanwilkar stated that the Suspension cannot be beyond the period of ‘Session’ in the Assembly. The Bench, while reinstating the 12 Members of the Legislative Assembly, stated that the resolutions for the Suspension are beyond the powers of the Assembly, and hence ineffective and Illegal.

On July 5, 2021, 12 Members of the Legislative Assembly were Suspended on the grounds of misbehaving with a presiding officer named Prakash Jadhav working at the chamber of the Speaker, the Allegations against them were made by the Maharashtra State Government.

The 12 Members of the Legislative Assembly are – Sanjay Kute, Ashish Shelar, Abhimanyu Pawar, Girish Mahajan, AtulBhatkhalkar, Parag Alavani, Harish Pimpale, YogeshSagar, Jay Kumar Rawat, Narayan Kuche, Ram Satpute and Bunty Bhangdia.

The former Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis stated, after the Order was given by the Supreme Court on his Twitter handle that “We welcome and thank the Hon’ble Supreme Court for the historic decision of Quashing of Suspension of our 12 BJP Maharashtra MLAs, who were fighting for the cause of OBCs in Maharashtra Legislative Assembly during the monsoon session.”