Congress MLA and former Maharashtra state president Nana Patole expressed strong anger against top state government officials on Monday, for insulting Chief Justice of India Bhushan Gavai and demanded action against them for violating official protocol.

Nana Patole also criticised the state government for Monday’s fire incident in the Mumbai Vidhan Bhavan.

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“Maharashtra itself is on fire, so the issue of the fire which broke out at Vidhan Bhavan is also serious. The contempt shown to the Chief Justice of India Bhushan Gavai yesterday (Sunday) is worrying. They are trying to tarnish Maharashtra’s image. Will the government take action against them?

“Officials did not comply with the protocol of receiving Chief Justice of India Bhushan Gavai. This is because the Chief Justice of India is an Ambedkarite and they wanted to insult him,” Patole said.

In a related development, Maharashtra Congress Legislature Party leader Vijay Wadettiwar also criticised the breach of protocol by top Maharashtra administrative and police officers by skipping a function organised in Mumbai on Sunday to mark the maiden official visit of newly appointed Chief Justice of India Bhushan Gavai to Mumbai.

“It is a very unfortunate incident that a son of Maharashtra, through stubbornness and perseverance, reaches the post of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the country, only to be insulted by the government in his own state.

“Are the ruling elites and high-ranking officials in the Maharashtra government angry with the judiciary? Can’t they follow simple protocol? Will the government and the relevant administrative officials take responsibility for this? At least clarify whose fault it is?” Wadettiwar tweeted on X.

“If the Chief Justice of India is visiting Maharashtra for the first time, and the state’s Chief Secretary (Sujata Saunik), the Director General of Police (Rashmi Shukla), and the Mumbai Police Commissioner (Deven Bharti) don’t feel it appropriate to be present, then they need to reflect on that. There’s nothing new about the protocol. It’s a matter of respect from one constitutional institution to another,” Wadettiwar said.

Wadettiwar’s statement came after the Chief Justice of India Bhushan Gavai expressed his displeasure about the absence of senior Maharashtra government officials in his speech on Sunday.

Chief Justice of India Bhushan Gavai was officially felicitated by the Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa in Mumbai on Sunday. However, the three top officers of the state, namely Maharashtra Chief Secretary Sujata Saunik, Director General of Police (DGP) Rashmi Shukla and Mumbai Police Commissioner Deven Bharti, were absent from the felicitation ceremony, breaching official protocol. Yet, after they faced heavy criticism, these officials met Chief Justice of India Gavai later, when he visited Chaityabhoomi at Dadar West in Mumbai, the final resting place of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar.

Expressing displeasure over their breach of protocol, Chief Justice Bhushan Gavai said at his felicitation on Sunday, “When a person from Maharashtra comes to the state for the first time as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the country, if the Chief Secretary, DGP and Police Commissioner of Maharashtra do not think it is appropriate for him to attend this programme, then they should think about it,” Gavai said.

“When the head of a constitutional institution visits the state for the first time, the kind of reception given to them must be considered carefully. These may seem like small matters, but people need to understand their significance. The three pillars of democracy–the judiciary, the legislature, and the executive–are equal, and every organ of the Constitution must reciprocate and show respect to the other,” Gavai said.

Meanwhile former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh too has criticised the officers who breached protocol.