Ashish Shelar and eleven other MLAs – Dr Sanjay Kute, Abhimanyu Pawar, Girish Mahajan, Atul Bhatkhalkar, Harish Pimple, Jaikumar Rawal, Yogesh Sagar, Narayan Kuche, Bunty Bhangdiya, Parag Alwani and Ram Satpute -were suspended from the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly for allegedly abusing and manhandling Speaker Bhaskar Jadhav in his chambers on the first day of the Monsoon Session 2021.
The petitioner MLAs had challenged their suspension claiming violation of Article 14 and principles of natural justice. They claimed to have tendered an apology to the Speaker, while categorically denying the use of foul language and accusations of manhandling. They had sought CCTV footage of the incident in question, but were refused by the Deputy Speaker citing house rules.
“The impugned resolution has been passed in abject violation of Article 14 of the Constitution of India in as much as no opportunity of hearing or at least furnishing their written explanation was given to the Petitioners. Further, a perusal of the impugned resolution shows that there has been utter non-application of mind in as much there was no material available for identifying the 12 MLA’s from a large crowd of people,” the petitioners had submitted.
Source: Barandbench
