Two Supreme Court lawyers and a Delhi social worker on Wednesday moved the Supreme Court to issue directions to the Centre to sack the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in Maharashtra and impose the President's rule in view of the deteriorating crime scene in the state.
Seeking directions to impose President’s rule, the plea said if not the whole state, it should be imposed at least in the city of Mumbai and districts surrounding it and put under the charge of the Armed Forces to ensure safety, well being and life of common citizens.
"Declare a state of emergency in the State of Maharashtra or in any case in the city of Mumbai and neighbouring districts as a grave threat to the security of citizens residing there has arisen due to direct conduct of the present government, and bring it under the rule of Armed Forces to assist the civil administration," says the petition.
Advocates Rishab Jain and Gautam Sharma and social worker Vikram Gehlot have alleged in their petition that the state machinery in Maharashtra is being "misused" by the political parties in power and the criminal activities are not only shielded but encouraged in the state.
They urged the Apex Court to save the state from "gangsterism" and "police high-headedness" acting as per the needs of the state's political leadership. They cited in support the actions taken by the Shiv Sena against Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut and former Navy officer Madan Lal Sharma.
Citing bungling in the probe into death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput, demolition of Kangana's office and the Shiv Sena activists' attack on the former Navy officer, the petition says: "These are few of the instance but gave enough in themselves to show that the activities of the State administration are not carried out with the provisions of law and as per the mandate of the Constitution but gives a feeling that some sort of the despotic rule is going on in the of Maharashtra. The spirit of democracy, law, and the Constitution is that a State should act in a lawful manner to the benefit of common citizens and act as per law."
The petitioners claimed the "gangsterism" by the ruling Shiv Sena cadres under the direct protection of police has raised a situation of grave emergency where the security of the residents is threatened.
"When the State machinery allows itself to be used as a band of persons out to throw law to the winds and take to oppressive activities at the instance of the ruling dispensation, it shows and establishes a failure of the constitutional machinery and requires imposing of President's rule in the State," the plea added.
