Bombay HC hopes Maha Governor will clear list of 12 MLCs soon

Mumbai, Aug 13 (IANS) Commenting on the delay by the Maharashtra Governor in clearing the list of 12 nominated Members of Legislative Council, the Bombay High Court on Friday said that "eight months was more than enough time" and expressed hope that the matter would be resolved soon.

Disposing off a PIL, a division bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice G.S. Kulkarni said that under Article 361 of the Constitution, the court could not give any directions to the Governor on the matter.

However, it also expressed the clear view that it was the Governor's duty to inform the Chief Minister about his reservations to the nominations "within a reasonable time", failing which "the statutory intent would stand defeated".

The Maha Vikas Aghadi's council of ministers, headed by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, had, in November 2020, submitted the list of nominated MLCs to Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari and the bench felt that "eight months on facts seems to be beyond reasonable time".

The court added that considering the gravity of the issues involved and the necessity to fill up the 12 vacancies as well as the aims of the Constitution, "would consider it desirable" if the government's application "is discharged without undue delay".