"Come, Sit Here... You Will Run For Your Life": Chief Justice Counsels Lawyer

"Sit here for a day. I assure you, you will run for your life," a visibly-irked Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud told a lawyer when he kept persisting for an early date of hearing in a case related to disqualification of Shiv Sena MLAs.

A bench comprising the CJI and justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra was fixing dates for hearing the two separate pleas related to the Maharashtra political disputes.

The Uddhav Thackeray faction has challenged Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar's order declaring the Shiv Sena bloc led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde as the "real political party" after its split in June 2022.

The other pleas was filed by Sharad Pawar faction of the NCP challenging Narwekar's decision declaring the group led by deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar as the real NCP.

Recently, the top court issued notices to Ajit Pawar and his 40 MLAs on the plea moved by the Sharad Pawar faction.

At the outset, the CJI said in the Shiv Sena case the pleadings were complete.

On listing of the NCP dispute matter, the bench took note of the submission of senior advocate NK Kaul, appearing for the Ajit Pawar group, that the three weeks time be given for filing response to the plea of the Sharad Pawar group.

The court finally gave 10 days time to the Ajit Pawar group and its 40 MLAs for filing the response and said that the plea will be heard after that.

In the meantime, a lawyer, apparently appearing for the Uddhav Thackeray faction, started persisting with his submissions that an early date be given.

He said the Maharashtra assembly polls are round the corner and the matter be listed early.

The lawyer added that the common compilation of documents can be prepared within two-three days.

"Please do not dictate the court," the CJI said.

"Why don't you come and sit here just for one day and tell the court master as to what dates you want. Ultimately you see this is too much. You see the kind of pressure of work on the court's ..., please come and sit here. Sit for a day. I assure you that you will run for your life!," the CJI said.

The assembly speaker, on January 10, declared the Shiv Sena bloc led by CM Shinde as the "real political party" after its split in June 2022.

The speaker had also dismissed the disqualification petitions of the Thackeray faction against CM Shinde and his supporting MLAs.

The speaker, on February 15, held that the NCP faction led by Ajit Pawar, who rebelled against his uncle Sharad Pawar and joined the BJP-Shiv Sena government in Maharashtra, was the real NCP.

The speaker had also rejected the disqualification petitions filed by the rival NCP factions seeking disqualification of each other's MLAs. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)