Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Thursday issued notice to Maharashtra government on a PIL which questions eligibility of 12 members of the State Legislative Council who were nominated by the Governor.
As per the Constitution, Governor can nominate persons "having special knowledge or practical experience in respect of...literature, science, art, co-operative movement and
social service" to the Legislative Council.
But the PIL filed by Birudeo Lavate and Sunil Kate -- both from Sangola taluka -- contends that the twelve MLCs appointed by the Governor on March 13, 2008 had no such special knowledge or experience in literature, science, etc.
Division bench of Chief Justice Anil Dave and Justice SC Dharmadhikari issued notice to the state government and sought reply to the petition.
Petitioners' lawyer, advocate Machhindra Patil, said that he sought information from the government as to whether the 12 MLCs possessed any expertise as required by the article
171 (5) of the constitution.
The reply given by RG Salvi, undersecretary, was "information not available", advocate Patil said.
Further, it was also not known who recommended the names of these 12 persons to the Governor, as they do not figure in the list of recommended names with the governor's
office, he said.
Petition demands that nomination of these MLCs be set aside. They are as follows: Alka Desai, Mohan Joshi, Charansingh Sapra, Subhash Chavan, M M Shaikh, Suresh Navle,
Foujia Khan, Ram Pandagale, Gurunath Kulkarni, Jitendra Avhad, Ramesh Shendge and Sumant Gaikwad.
Avhad, an NCP leader from Thane, is no longer an MLC
as he quit after he was elected to the Legislative assembly
last year.
Next hearing on the petition will be held on June 17.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, April 22, 2010, 15:38