7 Maharashtra MLCs sworn in amid reserved judgment, High Court told

The Bombay High Court was informed on Tuesday that seven members have been nominated to the Maharashtra Legislative Council (MLC) by Governor CP Radhakrishnan, and their names have been published by the state government.
The High Court had already reserved its order on a challenge to the Maharashtra Governor for not making any appointments to vacant posts for the past four years. Advocate Harshada Shrikhande, representing petitioner Sunil Modi, submitted that the state had proceeded with the appointments of seven people.
A bench comprising Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya and Justice Amit Borkar asked if the names were from the old list that had been returned.
Advocate General Dr Birendra Saraf responded that there was no stay on appointments and that the new appointments came from a fresh list that had been drawn up.
Saraf objected to the manner in which the issue was raised in court, claiming that the state had not been given prior notice. Shrikhande clarified that she was not seeking a hearing but merely bringing the facts on record, as the court had already reserved its judgment.
The bench agreed and took the details on record.
The state had released a gazette notification on late Monday night on the nomination of seven leaders to the Maharashtra Legislative Council from the Governor’s quota.
Of the seven, three were from the BJP, while two each were from Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party (Ajit Pawar). The members would have a six-year term.
The BJP’s list included the state women wing chief, Chitra Wagh, party leader Vikrant Patil from Raigad district, and Dharmguru Babusing Maharaj Rathod from Washim.
The NCP had nominated former legislator Pankaj Bhujbal and Idris Naikwadi.
Shiv Sena leaders Hemant Patil from Nanded and Dr Manisha Kayande from Mumbai were also chosen.
The seven MLCs were sworn in later on Tuesday afternoon.
Former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray’s cabinet had sent a list seeking the Governor’s approval for the appointment of 12 nominated MLCs. When the Eknath Shinde-led party came to power in 2022, the list was withdrawn. The governor had not taken a decision on it until then.
Earlier, the High Court had said that the governor could not have sat on the list sent by the Thackeray government. However, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sunil Modi had approached the court challenging the withdrawal of the list.