Bombay High Court on Monday issued notice to Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, Jaydutt Kshirsagar and Avinash Mahatekar who took oath as Maharashtra ministers recently. Court asked them to file reply within four weeks. This is in response to plea challenging their ministerial berths. With the High Court's order, the three ministers have received a partial relief especially when the monsoon session of the state legislature is underway. Former leader of opposition Vikhe-Patil had resigned from the post and quit Congress party to join BJP, whereas former Nationalist Congress Party MLA Kshirsagar quit the party and joined Shiv Sena. Mahatekar is a veteran Republican Party of India leader and a close confidant of the party founder and president Ramdas Athavale. Vikhe-Patil, Kshirsagar and Mahatekar were inducted on June 16 in the council of ministers led by the Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. Vikhe-Patil and Kshirsagar declined to comment citing the matter is subjudice. A division bench of justices S C Dharmadhikari and G S Patel, who was hearing the petition challenging the appointment of the trio as ministers, said, "Let the respondents (ministers) also get a chance to object or respond to the petition." Government counsel V A Thorat opposed the plea saying the trio can hold ministerial charge for six months and will have to get elected to the state legislature within this period. Petitioners Surinder Arora, Sanjay Kale, and Sandeep Kulkarni, in their plea, said the ministers stand disqualified on the ground of defection, according to the Constitution. Moreover, they have no intention of being elected within the next six months, as per the Representation of the People Act, the petitioners claimed. The petition urged the court to quash the appointment of all the three, grant an interim injunction restraining them from acting as ministers and direct the Assembly speaker to decide on the matter within two weeks. Incidentally, the induction of the trio was also opposed by opposition parties in and outside the legislature. NCP leader and former deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar alleged that Fadnavis had set a bad precedent and it was unconstitutional and unethical. On the other hand, former chief minister Ashok Chavan opined that the induction of three ministers ahead of assembly election was against high traditions of democracy. Former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan targeted Fadnavis and alleged that induction of three ministers was nothing but a political corruption. However, Fadnavis had strongly justified induction of three ministers saying that it was well within rules of the legislature. At Loggerheads

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