The Court said that the Governor’s decision to call Eknath Shinde to be sworn in as Chief Minister was correct.
The Court, however, underlined that the Governor could not have doubted the majority of the Thackeray government and dissatisfaction of some MLAs was not enough to call the floor test.
“Nothing shows members withdrew support and communication showed it disagreed with some policy decision of the Udhhav Thackeray government. Whether there would be deliberation or whether they (Shinde MLAs) will merge with another party was unclear,” the Court said.
The Supreme Court Thursday held that the decision of former Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari’s decision to call for a floor test based on the request of 34 MLAs of the Eknath Shinde faction was incorrect since Koshyari did not have enough objective material before him to conclude that the then Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had lost the confidence of the house.
Status quo ante cannot be restored as Mr. Thackeray did not face the floor test and resigned. and thus governor was correct in calling Eknath Shinde to form the government,” the Court held.
Floor test cannot be used as a medium to solve a intra party difference or inter party differences. There is a difference between a party not supporting government and members of some political party being unhappy,” the Court said.
The Governor is not entitled to enter political arena and play a role in intra party to inter party dispute and he could not have acted on the basis that some members want to leave Shiv Sena.
