CJI Irked By Persistent Early Hearing Requests, Challenges Lawyer To Sit On Bench

During a recent hearing, Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud expressed frustration at a lawyer’s insistence on an early hearing date for cases involving the disqualification of Shiv Sena MLAs.

The CJI’s remarks came as a bench, including Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, was scheduling dates for two cases related to political disputes in Maharashtra.

The first case involves the Uddhav Thackeray faction challenging Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar’s decision to recognize the Shiv Sena bloc led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde as the “real” Shiv Sena following their split in June 2022. The second case concerns a plea from the Sharad Pawar faction of the NCP, contesting Narwekar’s ruling that the faction led by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar is the legitimate NCP.

The Supreme Court issued notices to Ajit Pawar and his 40 MLAs regarding the Sharad Pawar faction’s plea. The CJI noted that the Shiv Sena case had completed its pleadings.

Regarding the NCP dispute, the bench allowed 10 days for Ajit Pawar’s group and their MLAs to file their response, instead of the three weeks requested by senior advocate NK Kaul.

Despite this, a lawyer representing the Uddhav Thackeray faction pushed for an expedited hearing, citing upcoming Maharashtra assembly elections and the readiness of document compilations. In response, the CJI advised the lawyer to understand the court’s workload and suggested, “Sit here for a day. I assure you, you will run for your life.”

The Maharashtra Assembly Speaker, on January 10, had declared the Shiv Sena faction led by CM Shinde as the legitimate Shiv Sena and dismissed disqualification petitions against him. Similarly, on February 15, the speaker recognized Ajit Pawar’s faction as the real NCP and rejected rival disqualification petitions.

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