‘Victory Of Democracy Over Dictatorship,’ Says BJP Leader Ashish Shelar As Maha Legislative Assembly Cancels Suspension Of 12 MLAs
Mumbai: Reacting to the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly’s stance of acknowledging the Supreme Court’s decision on suspension of 12 MLAs but calling on the President and seeking a referral of this decision to a larger bench of the Supreme Court, BJP MLA Adv. Ashish Shelar said that time has lapsed, the opportunity is gone and the demand is invalid.
MLA Adv. Ashish Shelar also criticised the alliance government and said that it is a clear victory of democracy over dictatorship and that the MVA government’s ego has been stripped.
BJP leader MLA Adv. Ashish Shelar addressed a press conference at the BJP office in Mumbai on Saturday. At this time, he said that yesterday he saw the press conference addressed by the deputy speaker of the Legislative Assembly and the Speaker and deputy speaker of the Legislative Council and that is the reason why he also decided to address the media. In fact, he said that it would have been better had he not been compelled to address this press conference. But it is important at this juncture to clarify the stance of the 12 MLAs as well, he pointed out.
MLA Adv. Ashish Shelar thanked the deputy speaker of the Legislative Assembly and the speaker and deputy speaker of the Legislative Council for accepting and announcing the cancellation of the suspension of 12 MLAs on Friday.
However, MLA Adv. Ashish Shelar said that he would like to humbly underline the fact that it is not true that the Assembly gave our rights back to us, but we got our rights back through a judicial battle. “We would like to humbly and politely clarify that it is not true that you revoked the suspension, but the Supreme Court ruled it as irrational, illegal and unconstitutional,” said MLA Adv. Ashish Shelar.
The deputy speaker of the Legislative Assembly and the speaker and deputy speaker of the Legislative Council met His Excellency the President and demanded that the President must send the judgement to a larger bench for reference as per Article 143 of the Constitution. It is inappropriate for us to comment on this meeting. However, we are trying to present our side regarding the demand made during this visit because it needs to be clarified. “Today we are humbly defending our stance to ensure there are no misunderstandings,” he said.
Talking about their demand, it can be said that time lapsed, the opportunity has been lost and demand is invalid. The reason was that when the petition was being heard in the Supreme Court, the court had asked the Maharashtra Legislature to present its case. But at that time, the Legislature had stated that it will not present its stand and did not take any stance. And now they have missed the boat and have lost their right to make such a demand.
Also during the hearing, the apex court had in its interim order, had asked us to go to the Legislature and ask them to withdraw our suspension. We made an application to this effect, but no action was initiated during the Assembly session. A hearing was held after the conclusion of the session, which was of no use. The Supreme Court had not only given the MLAs an opportunity but had also asked the Legislature to put forth its stance. But they failed to make the best of the opportunity. And hence their claim that the court is interfering in the matters of the Legislature does not make sense as the court had given them the opportunity.
The demand that the judgement is referred to the larger bench of the Supreme Court for a review is incorrect. Also, the reference cited by the Legislature about the judgement into the Raja Rampal v/s Speaker case where the five-justice bench of the Supreme Court had clarified that a resolution which is unconstitutional and invalid can be reviewed. And hence before addressing a press conference on Friday, the deputy speaker of the Legislative Assembly and the speaker and deputy speaker of the Legislative Council should have read the verdict entirely, said MLA Adv. Ashish Shelar calling it an incorrect demand. Citing the judgement of the 1965 case of Uttar Pradesh he said that the seven-judge bench of the Supreme Court had stated that the SC can judicially review the resolution. Hence a law that has already been passed cannot be referred back to a larger bench. And hence we call it an incorrect demand.
In the same press conference on Friday, the speaker of the Legislative Council had stated that something like this had never happened in the last 70 years, which is not true. Along with the above mentioned two judgements, a similar stance was maintained by the apex court in two other cases in Tamil Nadu and Odisha. Hence it is incorrect to say that this had not happened in the last 70 years. Also, all the statements that are being made now were being made by the alliance government during the hearing in the Supreme Court. The Court had mentioned Rajarampal’s judgement on page 22 of this judgement. Have you at least read this judgement thoroughly? MLA Adv. Ashish Shelar strongly criticised the alliance government stating that the judgement is a victory of democracy over dictatorship and the ego of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government has been stripped.
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