Justice S A Bobade and Justice Mridula Bhatkar quashed the Shinde's appointment on the ground that he did not belong to the single-largest Opposition party in the House.
Shinde was appointed as Leader of Opposition on April 18 on the strength of a letter written by him to the Mayor of Thane. He claimed to have the support of 17 Congress corporators besides few others from different parties.
Accordingly, the Mayor appointed him as the Leader of the Opposition on April 19.
However, the appointment of Shinde was opposed by NCP Corporator Sanjay Bhoir on the ground that he (Shinde) was not from the single largest opposition party.
Bhoir claimed that he had the support of 34 corporators of his party (NCP). He also challenged Shinde's appointment by filing a petition in the High Court.
Disposing of the petition, the High Court ruled that only such corporator who belonged to the single largest opposition party can be appointed as the Leader of the Opposition.
More From This Section
The Court directed the Mayor to appoint a Corporator from NCP as the Leader of Opposition as this party was the single largest opposition group in the House.
The judges also refused to stay their order to enable the petitioner to file an appeal.