Supreme Court Ruling on Maharashtra Governor's Decision [UPSC Notes]

 In June last year, the political upheaval in Maharashtra led to Uddhav Thackeray’s resignation as chief minister. Governor invited Eknath Shinde to form the new government on the basis of a letter of support from Opposition MLAs.  Thackeray had resigned instead of going through the floor test. In this article, we discuss this ruling  for the IAS exam polity and governance segment.

The Supreme Court Ruling on Maharashtra Governor’s Decision

• Recently, the Supreme Court ruled against the governor’s floor test order. 
• The Supreme Court (SC) has declared the governor’s order to call a floor test for the Maharashtra government unconstitutional and invalid.
• The SC bench said that the governor did not have any objective evidence to doubt the confidence of the government. It also said that the floor test cannot be used to resolve internal party disputes.
• In other words, the SC has said that the governor overstepped his powers and that the floor test was unnecessary.
• The bench also said that it cannot quash a resignation that was submitted voluntarily. It noted that the post of Chief Minister (CM) had fallen vacant after Uddhav Thackeray’s resignation.
• The leader of the party that had won the most seats in the state assembly had extended support to Eknath Shinde.
• The bench declared that the decision of the governor inviting Mr. Shinde to form the government was justified.
• The bench further clarified that the decision of the Speaker recognizing the whip appointed by the political party is the only valid decision. 
• It declared the appointment of Shinde as the leader of the Shiv Sena legislative party in the House and the appointment of Bharat Gogawale as the new Whip illegal.

Conclusion: The Supreme Court’s ruling invalidated the Maharashtra governor’s decision asking Thackeray to face the floor test, but it did not reinstate him as chief minister. 

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