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The Mumbai high court fined the state's three leading Congress legislators for wasting its time for political gains while dismissing their plea challenging dissolution of the state assembly on February 27.
The petitions challenging the dissolution were referred to a higher court after a division bench delivered a split judgment on May 8, while fresh polls had already been notified on May 5.
According to Justice V C Daga of the Goa bench of the Bombay high court, the petitions did not challenge the constitutional validity of the governor's decision to dissolve the assembly, but whether it was a hasty decision.
It it the cabinet's prerogative to recommend dissolution and the governor's right to dissolve the assembly, he added.
A new assembly in the state has already been constituted following fresh elections in June, with the BJP retaining power.
The petitions had become irrelevant after election of the new assembly, the judge said. Secondly, as the fresh elections were also not challenged, it would be impermissible to revive the dissolved assembly, he added.
Justice Daga said that the three petitioners - who managed to retain their seats in the new assembly - instead of pursuing the case should have gracefully withdrawn their petitions when they participated in the fresh election process.
"It appears that the petitioners pursued the case only to gain political mileage. This practice of using the judicial process for political benefits needs to be arrested," the judge ruled.
Declining to revive the old assembly, Justice Daga preferred to dismiss the petition after imposing a fine on the petitioners.
Former chief minister Luizinho Faleiro, former minister Francisco Silveira and former Congress spokesman Jitendra Deshprabhu have been told to pay Rs 25,000 each.
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