SC to continue hearing joint plea against BJP govt formation in Maharashtra on Monday

The Supreme Court will continue to hear on November 25 the petition jointly filed by the NCP-Congress and Shiv Sena against the formation of BJP-led government in Maharashtra.

The bench of Justices NV Ramana, Ashok Bhushan and Sanjiv Khanna will hear the case on Monday.

Lawyers Kapil Sibal and Dr Abhishek Manu Singhvi will represent the three parties in the top court during the hearing.

The matter has been listed in the supplementary list of miscellaneous hearing.

Earlier today, while hearing their plea against BJP-led government formation in Maharashtra, the apex court bench remarked that the "sky is the limit for the Supreme Court" and "anybody can ask for anything in the court".

The remark was made by Justice Ramana when senior counsel Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the BJP, questioned the plea filed by the Congress-NCP-Shiv Sena.

"In this court, the sky is the limit. Anybody can ask for anything. Any person can ask to make him the Prime Minister," observed Justice NV Ramana.

The Bench 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 by 10 am tomorrow.

Senior counsel Rohatgi while arguing on behalf of the BJP in the Supreme Court appealed the court not to pass an order to fix the date for the floor test in Maharashtra Assembly and asserted that Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari has committed no "illegality".

"There is no need for the court to pass order today. There was no illegality in the Governor's decision. The court should not pass an order to fix the date of the floor test. The three parties here have no fundamental rights," said Rohatgi.

"There are some things that are with the President, which are not even open to judicial intervention," he argued.

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.