Constitutional provisions are rarely followed in nominating Governor nominated MLCs

State NCP president Jayant Patil ticks-off Guv B S Koshyari over appointment of 12 Guv nominated MLCs

@prashanthamine

Mumbai: The ruling Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government has been at loggerheads with Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari over the appointment of 12 Governor Nominated Members of the Legislative Council (MLCs).

Latest one to fire a salvo at the Governor is state NCP president and Water Resources minister Jayant Patil who while commenting on queries from newspersons on Friday remarked that the state government has repeatedly reminded the Governor about it and sarcastically remarked that how could a “Idealist” Governor accept such a thing? He added that never before anywhere in the country has there been any experience of such sorts wherein appointments of legislators have been put on hold for so long.

Although the constitution stipulates that the government nominated members to the Legislative Council should be eminent people from different walks of public life. However, records of the past two decades show that people of eminence have rarely been nominated to the upper house by the ruling political party or the alliance in power.

On June 6 and June 15, 2020, the term of membership of the 12 nominated members to the upper house expired. Since then, the nominations of the new 12 nominated members have become a punching bag between the office of the Governor of Maharashtra and the MVA government.

The 10 Governor Nominated members whose term expired on June 6, 2020 include – Husnabanu Khalife, Janardan Chandurkar, Anandrao Patil, Ramhari Rupanwar all Congress, Prakash Gajbhiye, Vidya Chavan, Rahul Narvekar, Khwaja Baig, Ramrao Wadkute and Jagannath Shinde all NCP. While term of Architect Anant Gadgil, Congress and Prof Jogendra Kawade – Independent/PRP expired on June 15, 2020.

According to sources the probable names Nominated by Congress, NCP & Shiv Sena include – Eknath Khadse, Raju Shetti, Yashpal Bhinge and Anand Shinde from NCP quota. Rajnitai Patil, Sachin Sawant, Muzaffar Hussain and Anniruddha Vankar from Congress quota. Former Bollywood actor Urmila Matondkar, Nitin Bangude-Patil, Vijay Karanjkar and Chandrakant Raghuvanshi from Shiv Sena quota.

Mumbai based lawyer Advocate Ashish Giri had in June and November 2020 had petitioned Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari demanding that the 12 vacant Governor Nominated members be filled in accordance to the provisions of section 5 of Article 171 of the Constitution. He has now since filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the Bombay High Court on June 11, 2021 over the matter.

As per section 5 of Article 171 of the constitution, the members to be nominated by the Governor shall consist of persons having special knowledge or practical experience in respect of such matters like literature, science, art, cooperative movement and social service. The Article 171 lays down the provisions for the quota of seats to be elected by municipal corporators, graduates, teachers, by members of the legislative assembly and remainder of the members are to be nominated by the Governor. The quota of seats for each category of constituencies in the upper house is determined on the basis of number of seats in the legislative assembly.

Since the formation of the state of Maharashtra in 1960, the records available since then show that prominent personalities who have graced the hallowed portals of the upper house in the state legislature include – Shakuntala Paranjpye – Independent (1958-1964), noted Islamic scholar Dr Rafiq Zakaria, noted lyricist Shantaram Nandgaonkar, noted Marathi poetess Sarojini Babar, noted lyricist, agriculturist and poet Prof N D Mahanor, noted lyricist and poet G D Madgulkar, RSS ideologue M G Vaidya, Laxman Mane and satirist Prof Ramdas Phutane among others. But the trend in nominating such personalities to the upper house declined since 1990’s.

Speaking with thenews21, an official from the Election Commission of India clarified that there are no elections held to these vacancies, as members to these vacancies are nominated by the Governor and as such the ECI has no role to play in these nominations. Moreover, the nominated members do not have to furnish election affidavits at the time of their being nominated to the upper house.

In the run-up to the Assembly Elections held on October, 2019.Two Governor Nominated members – Rahul Narvekar and Ramrao Wadkute (both NCP) had resigned just before the Assembly elections were announced.

In December 2019, the NCP had recommended to the Governor to nominate NCP members – Shivajirao Garje and Aditi Nalavade to the two vacant seats (Rahul Narvekar & Ramrao Wadkute). However, the Governor had rejected the proposal citing limited duration of membership left for the two vacancies.

The Maharashtra Legislative Council happens to be one of the oldest upper houses amongst the bicameral state legislatures in the country.

The Bombay Legislative Council for the then Bombay Province was set up under the India Councils Act, 1861.

The Governor (British) could nominate 4 non-English Indians as members (Non-Official Members). The Indian Non-Official Members did not have voting rights.

First meeting of the Legislative Council of Bombay Province was held on January 22, 1862 at the Durbar Hall of the Town Hall in Mumbai.

The prominent Non-Official Members between 1862 and 1901 include – Jaganath Shunkerseth – 1862-1865, Mangaldas Nathubhoy (Mangaldas Market) – 1872, Madhoji Rao Janrao Naik-Nimbalkar of Phaltan – 1878-1880, David Sasson (David Sasson Library) – 1868-1872, Mahadev Govind Ranade – 1885-86, 1890-91, Gopal Krishna Gokhale – 1901, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Sir Firozshah Mehta, Sir Madhavrao Vinchurkar, Jamshedji Jeejeebhoy, Raosaheb Vishwanath Narayan Mandlik, Raobahadur Gopal Hari Deshmukh @ Lokhitwadi, Dr Ram Krushna Gopal Bhandarkar

Some years later the Government of India Act, 1935 led to the creation of the Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council. (Bombay State). First meeting of the Legislative Assembly was held on July 19, 1937. First meeting of the Legislative Council was held on July 20, 1937. Both the meetings were held at Old Council Hall at Pune in July 1937. This year both houses of the Maharashtra State Legislature, the Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council will turn 84 years old.