The Supreme Court on Monday directed Maharashtra assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar to decide on the disqualification petitions against Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde and MLAs supporting him by December 31, PTI reported.

Earlier this month, the court had pulled up Narwekar for delaying the adjudication of the disqualification petitions. The court said it would fix a timeline if the speaker fails to submit a revised schedule expediting the process.

“We are concerned about maintaining the dignity of this court. Our orders must be complied with,” the bench said on October 13.

On October 18, the court again asked the Maharashtra assembly speaker to submit a realistic time frame for the hearing of Shiv Sena MLA disqualification petitions.

The court has warned that a decision on the disqualification pleas must be taken before the next assembly elections, otherwise the whole process would be pointless.

The Sena factions filed a barrage of disqualification pleas against each other last year after Shinde and 39 MLAs broke away from the parent party and sided with the BJP to form the government.

In July, the speaker had issued notices to 40 MLAs of the Shinde-led Sena and 14 of the Thackeray faction, seeking their replies on disqualification petitions against them.

The notices were issued against a total of 54 MLAs. But notice was not issued against Sena (UBT) MLA Rutuja Latke who was elected after the Shiv Sena split last year.

Sunil Prabhu from the Thackeray faction, in his capacity as chief whip of the undivided Shiv Sena, had filed the disqualification petitions against Shinde and 15 other MLAs last year after the rebellion and resultant split in the party.

On May 11 this year, the Supreme Court ruled that Shinde will continue to be the chief minister of Maharashtra. It also said that it cannot reinstate the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition government headed by Thackeray as the latter chose to resign without facing a floor test in the wake of Shinde’s rebellion.

The Shiv Sena (UBT) has been accusing Narwekar of deliberately delaying in arriving at a decision on the disqualification pleas.

On September 21, Narwekar said he would not delay the decision on the disqualification pleas of some Shiv Sena MLAs, but wouldn’t rush into it either as it may result in “miscarriage of justice”.