The Bombay High Court on Thursday asked the Mumbai civic body what was the difficulty it had in taking a decision on the resignation submitted by ‘Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray’ party candidate Rutuja Latke for the upcoming Andheri East Assembly by-elections. A division bench of Justice Nitin Jamdar and Justice Sharmila Deshmukh directed senior advocate Anil Sakhare, appearing for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), to inform the court in the afternoon session as to the stand of the civic body.
Latke had on Wednesday moved the High Court seeking a direction to the Mumbai civic body to accept his resignation as its employee. “If an employee wants to resign and contest elections, what is the difficulty? The petitioner is a clerk. Why is the Municipal Commissioner not using his discretion and taking decisions,” Justice Jamdar asked.
“It is just an employer-employee dispute before us. This is not even a matter that should have come to court. The commissioner should have done this by now. When will you (BMC)? The last date (for submission of nominations) is tomorrow,” the bench said.
October 14 is the last date for filing nomination papers for the by-elections to be held on November 3. Latte’s lawyer Vishwajit Sawant told the court that he was just a clerk with no dues or inquiries. Under normal circumstances the resignation would have been accepted by the Joint Commissioner only. “But his resignation is pending before the commissioner due to political circumstances,” Sawant said.
Sakhare told the court that the resignation was not decided as the resignation was faulty. In her petition, Rutuja Latke said that the delay (accepting his resignation) by the civic body in issuing letters or orders appeared to be deliberate to prevent him from contesting the by-elections.
She also requested the High Court to allow the filing of nominations for the by-elections required due to the death of her husband and sitting MLA Ramesh Latte. However, Rutuja Latke did not specify for which party she wants to file nomination.
Separately, Rutuja Latke has said that she will contest the bypoll on the ‘torch’ symbol of the Thackeray faction. The Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) have pledged support to the ‘Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray’ party, making Rutuja Lagga the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) candidate.
The Uddhav Thackeray faction on Wednesday alleged that a group led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde was pressurizing Rutuja Latte to contest the election on his ticket. The Thackeray faction also accused the Mumbai civic body of political pressure for delaying his resignation as its employee to prevent his candidature for the November 3 bypolls. Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) commissioner IS Chahal had denied any political pressure.
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