Days after he was denied a meeting, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, along with deputy CM Ajit Pawar and revenue minister Balasaheb Thorat met governor B S Koshyari on Wednesday to get a faster clearance of files pertaining to the nomination of 12 persons in the state legislative council from the governor’s quota. This decision has been pending since November last year after the state cabinet had forwarded its recommendations.
Wednesday’s meeting came after the Bombay High Court refused to issue directions to the Governor for taking a decision on the 12 names recommended by the state government for nomination as MLCs. But the high court said Governor Koshyari has a "constitutional obligation" to decide the matter.
Pawar said, “We told the governor that it would be better if he clears the 12 names approved by the state cabinet for nomination to the legislative council at the earliest. We said a lot of time has passed since the cabinet approved these names. He said he will take a decision soon.”
Pawar said the governor was also apprised about the rain situation, dam storage and other information. The state had approved 12 names for the Upper House in November 2020 after the nominated seats fell vacant in June last year after the term of the sitting members ended.
The delay by Koshyari in deciding on the state cabinet’s proposal has become a major bone of contention between him and the Maha Vikas Aghadi government of Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress. The government had argued that the Governor should have accepted its proposal on nominations and he cannot keep his decision pending.
Meanwhile, the high court had said that the governor has a "constitutional obligation" to either accept or reject "within a reasonable time" the proposal sent by the state cabinet to nominate 12 persons as MLCs. The government had argued that the Governor should have accepted its proposal on nominations and he cannot keep his decision pending.
