The Evening Wrap: SC gives Sena rebels time till July 12 to respond to disqualification notice

The Supreme Court on Monday said rebel Shiv Sena legislators led by Eknath Shinde need “breathing time” while giving them time till July 12 to respond to a notice issued by Deputy Speaker Narhari Zirwal on June 25 initiating disqualification proceedings against them for defection. Shinde and 15 other legislators, against whom disqualification notice was issued, were supposed to submit their written responses before the Deputy Speaker by 5.30 p.m. on June 27. A Vacation Bench of Justices Surya Kant and J.B. Pardiwala heeded their contention that they were given hardly 48 hours to respond to the disqualification notice when the law required the Speaker to grant them seven whole days. The apex court, it seems, has now ended up giving the rebel legislators a full fortnight to file their replies. “The disqualification notice is a classic example of the Deputy Speaker acting hand in glove with the government in an attempt to hastily disqualify the petitioner [Mr. Shinde] along with other supporters. The disqualification rules and the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Rules are sought to be completely bypassed,” Shinde, through senior advocate Neeraj Kishan Kaul, had alleged. Virtually putting the disqualification proceedings on hold, the Bench, in its order, recorded that as an “interim measure, the time granted by the Deputy Speaker to the petitioners and other similarly placed MLAs to submit their written submissions today [on Monday] by 5.30 p.m. is extended till July 12, 2022, 5.30 p.m.” The Bench also took on record the statement made by the Maharashtra government that no harm would be caused to the lives, liberty and properties of the 39 MLAs who have rebelled against the Uddhav Thackeray government. Shinde had claimed that there was an “ongoing agenda” by which party leaders were instigating their cadres to intimidate them. He had alleged that Shiv Sena parliamentarian Sanjay Raut had threatened them that “he would make it difficult for the MLAs to return to Maharashtra and move around in Maharashtra”. The court, however, refused a plea by the rebel legislators to direct the Centre to provide them security. “We don’t want any involvement by the Central government… The State police will take care,” Justice Kant observed. Listing the case for hearing on July 11, the Bench issued formal notice to the Deputy Speaker, the ruling Thackeray camp leaders Ajay Chaudhary and Sunil Prabhu and the Centre through the Solicitor General. Senior advocate Devadatt Kamat, for the Thackeray camp members, urged the Bench to ensure that no floor test took place till the issue was finally decided in court. “Ah, the cat is out of the bag,” Kaul quipped at Kamat’s submission. “If there is any change in status quo or if anything unlawful were to happen, Your Lordships should give us the liberty to approach you,” Kamat persisted. But the court remained non-committal, saying it cannot pass orders on the basis of a hypothesis or presumption about the future. “Our doors are always open to any citizen of the country,” Justice Kant addressed the lawyer. The hearing began with Kaul, for Shinde, questioning the very competence of the Deputy Speaker to issue them a disqualification notice. He contended that Zirwal himself was facing a motion for his removal as Deputy Speaker. Kaul said over 30 rebel legislators had moved a resolution for Zirwal’s removal on June 21, that is, days prior to the issuance of the disqualification notice on June 25. “In the Nebam Rebia judgment, this court had held it was constitutionally impermissible for a Speaker to adjudicate on disqualification petitions under the Tenth Schedule while a notice of resolution for his own removal from the Office of the Speaker was pending… Besides, the seat of Speaker is vacant since Nana Patole resigned from office in February 2021. Thus, there is no authority who can adjudicate upon the disqualification petition. Disqualification petition is not maintainable,” Kaul argued. Senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan, for the Deputy Speaker, and senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, for Chaudhary and Prabhu, contended that the notice of resolution for Zirwal’s removal was suspect as it was sent from an unverified mail ID. “A fly-by-night notice will not do to injunct the Deputy Speaker from taking action and issuing notice for disqualification of the MLAs. The Deputy Speaker acts as a tribunal while deciding a disqualification petition. An email dashed off from an unverified mail ID cannot stop him,” Dhavan countered. Dhavan said the Deputy Speaker had suspicions about the genuineness of the removal notice and decided to not take it on record. The rebel MLAs had originally been expected to address concerns about the authenticity of the removal notice and the veracity of the signatures on it by 5.30 p.m. on June 27. Besides, the senior lawyer submitted that Article 179 of the Constitution mandates 14 days’ notice to be given of the intention to move a resolution in the Assembly to remove the Deputy Speaker. “Mr. Dhavan, you cannot first say the removal notice was invalid and then say 14 days have not elapsed. If the notice was invalid, there is no question of 14 days,” Justice Kant observed. Singhvi and Kamat argued that the petitions of Shinde and the other legislators were not maintainable. They referred to the court’s decision in Kihoto Hollohan case (1992) to argue that judicial review cannot be permitted when the Speaker was seized of the proceedings for disqualification. But the court said the Kihoto Hollohan case did not deal with a situation in which the Speaker’s continuation in office is in question. A second petition filed by the MLAs, including Bharat Gogawale, said there was dissatisfaction among Shiv Sena members about the corruption in the Maharashtra government while pointing to the cases of former Home Minister Anil Deshmukh, Minority Minister Nawab Malik, who are both in jail, the latter for his alleged involvement with the underworld don Dawood Ibrahim. They said their requests to Chief Minister Thackeray to “change his way” and align his ideologies with that of his father and Shiv Sena founder Balasaheb Thackeray fell on deaf ears. Deputy Speaker had issued notice to rebel MLAs under pressure, says Shrikant Shinde Rebel Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde’s son and party MP Shrikant Shinde on Monday said Maharashtra Deputy Speaker Narhari Zirwal had sent the disqualification notice to his father and 15 other dissident legislators under pressure which is evident from the Supreme Court order. “The speaker has rights in the Assembly. He has the power if anyone goes against the whip in the legislature. It does not apply to anyone not coming for any meeting. The ‘tughlaqi farman’ (the disqualification notice) was issued (by him) under pressure and the court has shown that today,” Shinde, the MP from Kalyan, said. Speaking to reporters after visiting the ‘Shakti Sthal’ memorial of the late Shiv Sena leader Anand Dighe here, Shrikant said party leader Sanjay Raut should watch his mouth, a day after the latter’s “bodies without souls” remarks against the dissident MLAs camping in Guwahati caused a flutter. Meanwhile, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has handed over portfolios of nine rebel ministers, who are currently camping in Guwahati, to other ministers. The portfolios of the rebel ministers were being handed over to other ministers for ease of administration, an official statement said. Nine Maharashtra ministers have so far joined the rebel camp led by Eknath Shinde. The Sena now has four cabinet ministers, including CM Uddhav Thackeray, Aaditya Thackeray, Anil Parab, and Subhash Desai. Barring Aaditya Thackeray, the rest three are MLCs. In the tripartite Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government led by the Sena, the Uddhav Thackeray-led party had 10 Cabinet-rank ministers before the rebellion and four Ministers of State (MoS), including two from the Sena quota. All the four MoS have joined the rebel camp in Guwahati. Centre must extend retirement age of ‘Agniveers’ to 65 years, says Mamata Banerjee West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday urged the Centre to extend the retirement age of soldiers recruited under the Agnipath scheme to 65 years, contending that they will stare at an uncertain future at the end of the four-year term. Banerjee also said the BJP-led central government launched the new defence recruitment scheme keeping in mind the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. “My motto is to create more and more jobs unlike the BJP. They are training people for four months and recruiting them for four years. What will these soldiers do after four years? What will be their fate? It’s uncertain. We demand that the retirement age be extended to 65 years (under the Agnipath scheme),” Banerjee said at an event in West Bengal Burdwan. It envisages recruiting in the armed forces youths in the age bracket of 17-and-half to 21 years for only four years, with a provision to retain 25% of them for 15 more years. For 2022, the upper age limit has been extended to 23 years. Banerjee had earlier claimed that the BJP was using the scheme to build its own “armed cadre base”. Supreme Court to hear Centre’s plea against Tripura HC order on security cover to Ambanis The Supreme Court on June 27 agreed to hear on June 28, a plea of the Centre challenging the Tripura High Court orders on a PIL challenging grant of security cover to industrialist Mukesh Ambani and his family members in Mumbai. A Vacation Bench of Justices Surya Kant and J.B. Pardiwala was told by Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta that the High Court has no jurisdiction to entertain the PIL as the State Government has nothing to do with the security cover provided to the Ambanis by the Centre on recommendation of the Maharashtra Government. Mehta said he wants the appeal to be heard urgently as the High Court has asked Home Ministry officials to appear before it on June 28 with original records with regard to the threat perception to the Ambanis, and stated no more adjournment will be granted. The Tripura High Court had on a PIL filed by one Bikash Saha had passed two interim orders on May 31 and June 21 and had directed the Central Government to place the original file maintained by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) regarding threat perception and assessment report of Ambani, his wife and children on the basis of which security has been granted to them. Indian-origin man gunned down while sitting in parked vehicle in New York: Police A 31-year-old Indian-origin man was shot dead while sitting in a parked SUV down the street from his home in New York, according to media reports, days after an Indian national was killed after sustaining an apparent gunshot wound to his head in Maryland. Satnam Singh was found sitting in the car at around 3:46 p.m. on Saturday in the South Ozone Park section of Queens with gunshot wounds in his neck and torso, the New York Post newspaper reported quoting New York Police Department as saying. Singh was sitting in the black Jeep Wrangler Sahara borrowed from a friend when a gunman approached and started shooting, New York Daily News reported. Singh was rushed from the scene to Jamaica Hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead. Although police said the gunman approached Singh on foot, neighbours said the shots came from a silver-coloured sedan with a black trunk as it passed the Jeep. “(Mr. Singh) was walking up 129th St. going to the car and the other car with the perp (perpetrator) in it came up,” said neighbour Joan Cappellani. “[It] made a U-turn, came back and then ‘Pow! Pow! Pow!’ and then went down 129th St,” she said. The shooting was caught on her home’s security cameras, which NYPD personnel are reviewing, she said. Detectives were trying to determine if the gunman was aiming at Singh or was hoping to kill the SUV’s owner and was unaware who was inside. No arrests have been made. This comes days after Indian national Sai Charan from Telangana was found injured with an apparent gunshot wound inside his SUV in Baltimore, Maryland. The 25-year-old was immediately rushed to a trauma centre, where he was pronounced dead on June 19. In Brief Opposition’s presidential candidate Yashwant Sinha on Monday filed his nomination papers for the July 18 election. Sinha handed over four sets of nomination papers to Rajya Sabha Secretary-General P.C. Mody, who is the Returning Officer for the presidential election. Top Opposition leaders including NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, Jairam Ramesh, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, DMK’s A. Raja and NC leader Farooq Abdullah were present when Sinha submitted his nomination papers. Sinha was named as the common Opposition candidate for the presidential election on June 21. Spain’s Cabinet approved on Monday a new draft of a LGBTQ rights Bill that, if backed by parliament, will allow people as young as 16 to change their gender freely, and those as young as 12 to do so with a judge’s authoriaation. This version of the Bill is very similar to the one that was initially presented by the government a year ago but was held up due to debates within Spain’s left-wing ruling coalition. The Bill was promoted by the left-wing United We Can party, the government’s junior partner. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow [logo] The Evening Wrap 27 JUNE 2022 [The Hindu logo] Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day’s biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. [[Arrow]Open in browser]( [[Mail icon]More newsletters]( SC gives Sena rebels time till July 12 to respond to disqualification notice for defection The [Supreme Court on Monday said rebel Shiv Sena legislators led by Eknath Shinde]( need “breathing time” while giving them time till July 12 to respond to a notice issued by Deputy Speaker Narhari Zirwal on June 25 initiating disqualification proceedings against them for defection. [Shinde and 15 other legislators, against whom disqualification notice]( was issued, were supposed to submit their written responses before the Deputy Speaker by 5.30 p.m. on June 27. A Vacation Bench of Justices Surya Kant and J.B. Pardiwala heeded their contention that they were given hardly 48 hours to respond to the disqualification notice when the law required the Speaker to grant them seven whole days. The apex court, it seems, has now ended up giving the rebel legislators a full fortnight to file their replies. [A View of the Supreme Court which was hearing the Maharashtra MLA’s Dissqualification case in New Delhi on June 27, 2022. ] “The disqualification notice is a classic example of the Deputy Speaker acting hand in glove with the government in an attempt to hastily disqualify the petitioner [Mr. Shinde] along with other supporters. The disqualification rules and the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Rules are sought to be completely bypassed,” Shinde, through senior advocate Neeraj Kishan Kaul, had alleged. Virtually putting the disqualification proceedings on hold, the Bench, in its order, recorded that as an “interim measure, the time granted by the Deputy Speaker to the petitioners and other similarly placed MLAs to submit their written submissions today [on Monday] by 5.30 p.m. is extended till July 12, 2022, 5.30 p.m.” The Bench also took on record the statement made by the Maharashtra government that no harm would be caused to the lives, liberty and properties of the 39 MLAs who have rebelled against the Uddhav Thackeray government. Shinde had claimed that there was an “ongoing agenda” by which party leaders were instigating their cadres to intimidate them. He had alleged that Shiv Sena parliamentarian Sanjay Raut had threatened them that “he would make it difficult for the MLAs to return to Maharashtra and move around in Maharashtra”. The court, however, refused a plea by the rebel legislators to direct the Centre to provide them security. “We don’t want any involvement by the Central government… The State police will take care,” Justice Kant observed. Listing the case for hearing on July 11, the Bench issued formal notice to the Deputy Speaker, the ruling Thackeray camp leaders Ajay Chaudhary and Sunil Prabhu and the Centre through the Solicitor General. Senior advocate Devadatt Kamat, for the Thackeray camp members, urged the Bench to ensure that no floor test took place till the issue was finally decided in court. “Ah, the cat is out of the bag,” Kaul quipped at Kamat’s submission. “If there is any change in status quo or if anything unlawful were to happen, Your Lordships should give us the liberty to approach you,” Kamat persisted. But the court remained non-committal, saying it cannot pass orders on the basis of a hypothesis or presumption about the future. “Our doors are always open to any citizen of the country,” Justice Kant addressed the lawyer. The hearing began with Kaul, for Shinde, questioning the very competence of the Deputy Speaker to issue them a disqualification notice. He contended that Zirwal himself was facing a motion for his removal as Deputy Speaker. Kaul said over 30 rebel legislators had moved a resolution for Zirwal’s removal on June 21, that is, days prior to the issuance of the disqualification notice on June 25. “In the Nebam Rebia judgment, this court had held it was constitutionally impermissible for a Speaker to adjudicate on disqualification petitions under the Tenth Schedule while a notice of resolution for his own removal from the Office of the Speaker was pending… Besides, the seat of Speaker is vacant since Nana Patole resigned from office in February 2021. Thus, there is no authority who can adjudicate upon the disqualification petition. Disqualification petition is not maintainable,” Kaul argued. Senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan, for the Deputy Speaker, and senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, for Chaudhary and Prabhu, contended that the notice of resolution for Zirwal’s removal was suspect as it was sent from an unverified mail ID. “A fly-by-night notice will not do to injunct the Deputy Speaker from taking action and issuing notice for disqualification of the MLAs. The Deputy Speaker acts as a tribunal while deciding a disqualification petition. An email dashed off from an unverified mail ID cannot stop him,” Dhavan countered. Dhavan said the Deputy Speaker had suspicions about the genuineness of the removal notice and decided to not take it on record. The rebel MLAs had originally been expected to address concerns about the authenticity of the removal notice and the veracity of the signatures on it by 5.30 p.m. on June 27. Besides, the senior lawyer submitted that Article 179 of the Constitution mandates 14 days’ notice to be given of the intention to move a resolution in the Assembly to remove the Deputy Speaker. “Mr. Dhavan, you cannot first say the removal notice was invalid and then say 14 days have not elapsed. If the notice was invalid, there is no question of 14 days,” Justice Kant observed. Singhvi and Kamat argued that the petitions of Shinde and the other legislators were not maintainable. They referred to the court’s decision in Kihoto Hollohan case (1992) to argue that judicial review cannot be permitted when the Speaker was seized of the proceedings for disqualification. But the court said the Kihoto Hollohan case did not deal with a situation in which the Speaker’s continuation in office is in question. A second petition filed by the MLAs, including Bharat Gogawale, said there was dissatisfaction among Shiv Sena members about the corruption in the Maharashtra government while pointing to the cases of former Home Minister Anil Deshmukh, Minority Minister Nawab Malik, who are both in jail, the latter for his alleged involvement with the underworld don Dawood Ibrahim. They said their requests to Chief Minister Thackeray to “change his way” and align his ideologies with that of his father and Shiv Sena founder Balasaheb Thackeray fell on deaf ears. Deputy Speaker had issued notice to rebel MLAs under pressure, says Shrikant Shinde [Rebel Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde’s son and party MP Shrikant Shinde]( on Monday said Maharashtra Deputy Speaker Narhari Zirwal had sent the disqualification notice to his father and 15 other dissident legislators under pressure which is evident from the Supreme Court order. “The speaker has rights in the Assembly. He has the power if anyone goes against the whip in the legislature. It does not apply to anyone not coming for any meeting. The ‘tughlaqi farman’ (the disqualification notice) was issued (by him) under pressure and the court has shown that today,” Shinde, the MP from Kalyan, said. Speaking to reporters after visiting the ‘Shakti Sthal’ memorial of the late Shiv Sena leader Anand Dighe here, Shrikant said party leader Sanjay Raut should watch his mouth, a day after the latter’s “bodies without souls” remarks against the dissident MLAs camping in Guwahati caused a flutter. Meanwhile, [Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray]( has handed over portfolios of nine rebel ministers, who are currently camping in Guwahati, to other ministers. The portfolios of the rebel ministers were being handed over to other ministers for ease of administration, an official statement said. Nine Maharashtra ministers have so far joined the rebel camp led by Eknath Shinde. The Sena now has four cabinet ministers, including CM Uddhav Thackeray, Aaditya Thackeray, Anil Parab, and Subhash Desai. Barring Aaditya Thackeray, the rest three are MLCs. In the tripartite Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government led by the Sena, the Uddhav Thackeray-led party had 10 Cabinet-rank ministers before the rebellion and four Ministers of State (MoS), including two from the Sena quota. All the four MoS have joined the rebel camp in Guwahati. Centre must extend retirement age of ‘Agniveers’ to 65 years, says Mamata Banerjee [West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday urged the Centre]( to extend the retirement age of soldiers recruited under the Agnipath scheme to 65 years, contending that they will stare at an uncertain future at the end of the four-year term. Banerjee also said the BJP-led central government launched the new defence recruitment scheme keeping in mind the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. “My motto is to create more and more jobs unlike the BJP. They are training people for four months and recruiting them for four years. What will these soldiers do after four years? What will be their fate? It’s uncertain. We demand that the retirement age be extended to 65 years (under the Agnipath scheme),” Banerjee said at an event in West Bengal Burdwan. It envisages recruiting in the armed forces youths in the age bracket of 17-and-half to 21 years for only four years, with a provision to retain 25% of them for 15 more years. For 2022, the upper age limit has been extended to 23 years. Banerjee had earlier claimed that the BJP was using the scheme to build its own “armed cadre base”. Supreme Court to hear Centre’s plea against Tripura HC order on security cover to Ambanis The [Supreme Court on June 27 agreed to hear on June 28]( a plea of the Centre challenging the Tripura High Court orders on a PIL challenging grant of security cover to industrialist Mukesh Ambani and his family members in Mumbai. A Vacation Bench of Justices Surya Kant and J.B. Pardiwala was told by Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta that the High Court has no jurisdiction to entertain the PIL as the State Government has nothing to do with the security cover provided to the Ambanis by the Centre on recommendation of the Maharashtra Government. [A view of the Supreme Court of India. File] Mehta said he wants the appeal to be heard urgently as the High Court has asked Home Ministry officials to appear before it on June 28 with original records with regard to the threat perception to the Ambanis, and stated no more adjournment will be granted. The Tripura High Court had on a PIL filed by one Bikash Saha had passed two interim orders on May 31 and June 21 and had directed the Central Government to place the original file maintained by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) regarding threat perception and assessment report of Ambani, his wife and children on the basis of which security has been granted to them. Indian-origin man gunned down while sitting in parked vehicle in New York: Police A 31-year-old Indian-origin man was shot dead while sitting in a parked SUV down the street from his home in New York, according to media reports, days after an Indian national was killed after sustaining an apparent gunshot wound to his head in Maryland. Satnam Singh was found sitting in the car at around 3:46 p.m. on Saturday in the South Ozone Park section of Queens with gunshot wounds in his neck and torso, the New York Post newspaper reported quoting New York Police Department as saying. Singh was sitting in the black Jeep Wrangler Sahara borrowed from a friend when a gunman approached and started shooting, New York Daily News reported. Singh was rushed from the scene to Jamaica Hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead. Although police said the gunman approached Singh on foot, neighbours said the shots came from a silver-coloured sedan with a black trunk as it passed the Jeep. “(Mr. Singh) was walking up 129th St. going to the car and the other car with the perp (perpetrator) in it came up,” said neighbour Joan Cappellani. “[It] made a U-turn, came back and then ‘Pow! Pow! Pow!’ and then went down 129th St,” she said. The shooting was caught on her home’s security cameras, which NYPD personnel are reviewing, she said. Detectives were trying to determine if the gunman was aiming at Singh or was hoping to kill the SUV’s owner and was unaware who was inside. No arrests have been made. This comes days after Indian national Sai Charan from Telangana was found injured with an apparent gunshot wound inside his SUV in Baltimore, Maryland. The 25-year-old was immediately rushed to a trauma centre, where he was pronounced dead on June 19. In Brief [Opposition’s presidential candidate Yashwant Sinha on Monday filed his nomination papers]( for the July 18 election. Sinha handed over four sets of nomination papers to Rajya Sabha Secretary-General P.C. Mody, who is the Returning Officer for the presidential election. Top Opposition leaders including NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, Jairam Ramesh, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, DMK’s A. Raja and NC leader Farooq Abdullah were present when Sinha submitted his nomination papers. [Sinha was named as the common Opposition candidate]( for the presidential election on June 21. Spain’s Cabinet approved on Monday a new draft of a LGBTQ rights Bill that, if backed by parliament, will allow people as young as 16 to change their gender freely, and those as young as 12 to do so with a judge’s authoriaation. This version of the Bill is very similar to the one that was initially presented by the government a year ago but was held up due to debates within Spain’s left-wing ruling coalition. The Bill was promoted by the left-wing United We Can party, the government’s junior partner. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow  Today’s Top Picks [[Wimbledon 2022: No ranking points but not lacking in excitement | In Focus podcast] Wimbledon 2022: No ranking points but not lacking in excitement | In Focus podcast]( [[Watch | Why do cryptocurrencies crash?] Watch | Why do cryptocurrencies crash?]( [[Misdirected ideas can harm the judiciary] Misdirected ideas can harm the judiciary]( [[Spanish government approves new Bill on transgender rights] Spanish government approves new Bill on transgender rights]( Copyright @ 2022, THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD. If you are facing any trouble in viewing this newsletter, please [try here]( If you do not wish to receive such emails [go here](