SC reserves order in petition filed against Maharashtra govt formation

The Supreme Court on Monday reserved its order in the petition filed jointly by Shiv Sena, Congress, and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) against the government formation in Maharashtra with Devendra Fadnavis as the Chief Minister.

The bench comprising of Justices NV Ramana, Ashok Bhushan and Sanjiv Khanna will pass the order on Tuesday at 10.30 am.

"Governor, in this case, has given 14 days for the floor test, reasonable time can be 7 days. The most important thing right now is the procedure of Appointment of Protem Speaker, Oath, Election of Speaker, and Agenda," he told that the bench comprising of Justices NV Ramana, Ashok Bhushan and Sanjiv Khanna.

"It cannot direct the Maharashtra Governor to initiate the Floor Test within 24 hours. Floor Test should not be tomorrow," he argued.

Lawyers Kapil Sibal and Dr Abhishek Manu Singhvi representing Shiv Sena, Congress and the NCP demanded that the floor test should be held soon.

The Bench had on Sunday asked the Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to produce relevant documents including Maharashtra Governor's letter inviting BJP to form the government and letter of support of MLAs.

At a time when deliberations among Congress, NCP and Shiv Sena on the formation of a non-BJP government in the state had seemingly reached the final stage, the BJP formed the government in a surprise development on Saturday morning when Devendra Fadnavis took oath for the second consecutive term as the state Chief Minister, with NCP's Ajit Pawar as his Deputy Chief Minister.

On Saturday, the petitioners had filed a petition against the decision of Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari, inviting BJP's Devendra Fadnavis to form the government in the state on November 23.

MLAs of Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress are currently staying at different hotels in Mumbai amid uncertainty over floor test.