Seven take oath as governor’s nominees in Maharashtra council

Mumbai: Seven nominees — three from the BJP and two each from the Shiv Sena and NCP — took oath in the Vidhan Bhavan as MLCs from the governor's quota of 12 on Tuesday afternoon. The oath of office and secrecy was administered by deputy chairperson of the legislative council, Neelam Gorhe.Pankaj Bhujbal and Idris Naikwadi from the NCP, Manisha Kayande and former MP Hemant Patil from the Shiv Sena, and Chitra Wagh, Vikrant Patil and Babusingh Maharaj Rathod from the BJP took the oath. The names were sent to governor C P Radhakrishnan on Monday and were approved the same day.Shiv Sena (UBT) functionary Sunil Modi's advocate, Harshada Shrikhande, on Tuesday informed the high court that while the court reserved his petition for judgment on a PIL filed by him, the state govt went ahead and nominated seven names as MLCs. Modi through his lawyer mentioned the matter, saying that he wanted to bring this subsequent fact to the court's notice. Advocate General Birendra Saraf pointed out that there was never any stay, and in fact, the state, at the beginning of Sept, wrote a mail to the petitioners' advocates recording that neither was there any stay nor any assurance or statement on behalf of the govt. The bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Amit Borkar took the submissions on record. The high court has set no date yet for the pronouncement of its judgment.Last week, the high court concluded the hearing and reserved its judgment on the PIL challenging the then governor B S Koshyari's Sept 2022 decision to withdraw the 12 MLC nominations recommended by the MVA govt.Kayande said that CM Eknath Shinde kept his word. "I thank CM Shinde for this chance. The party has shown faith in me and stood by me like my family members. When I joined the Sena here, I was told my respect would be kept. So I joined without any terms and conditions. Making this nomination is the Governor's prerogative. The Sena (UBT) and opposition have a habit of going to court for everything. They did this for our Ladki Bahin scheme also, but the courts did not intervene," Kayande said.
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