New Delhi, Dec 15: The Supreme Court on Friday granted a 10-day extension to Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar for deciding the pending defection petitions in the Shiv Sena split case.

Earlier, the top court had ordered the Speaker to announce his decision by December 31 on disqualification petitions filed by the two rival factions of the Shiv Sena led by Uddhav Thackeray and CM Eknath Shinde against each other.

During the hearing, a bench, headed by CJI D.Y. Chandrachud was apprised by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta that the Speaker would conclude the proceedings on December 20 and considering the voluminous documents involved in the case, and thus, the deadline may be extended by three weeks.

Opposing this, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Shiv Sena-UBT leader Sunil Prabhu, submitted that similar requests seeking extension of time have been raised by the Speaker in the past.

Thereafter, the bench, also comprising Justices J.B. Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, ordered: "The Speaker has indicated that the proceedings will be closed on December 20 and has sought a reasonable extension of time. Bearing in mind the time limit laid out earlier, we grant extension of time till January 10, 2024 for the Speaker to deliver judgment."

Following the split in the party, both the factions of Shiv Sena filed petitions against each other under the anti-defection law. Later, the Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena moved the apex court against delay by the Speaker in deciding the disqualification proceedings filed against Chief Minister Shinde and his camp.

Jayant Patil of the NCP-Sharad Pawar faction also filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the delay by the Speaker in hearing the defection pleas following a split in the NCP.

The top court in October this year directed the Speaker to conclude the hearing in NCP defection petitions by January 31 next year.

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Earlier in May, a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court had directed that the Maharashtra Speaker "must decide disqualification petitions in a reasonable time" against 16 Shiv Sena MLAs, including Shinde, who were accused of anti-party activities.

(IANS)

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