New Delhi: Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde will get to keep his job and his Government, the Supreme Court said today, in a massive setback for Uddhav Thackeray over last year’s Shiv Sena mutiny.

The Supreme Court said it cannot disqualify Shinde and 15 other MLAs for revolting against then Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray in June last year. It also rejected a request to restore Thackeray’s Government because the leader had chosen to resign instead of facing a test of strength in the Assembly.

The Supreme Court, however, censured then Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari, saying he had “erred” in concluding that Thackeray had lost the support of the majority of MLAs.

Uddhav Thackeray had asked the Top Court to step in after Shinde, backed by the opposition BJP, split the Shiv Sena and led most of the MLAs to form a new Government.

The decision was delivered by a five-judge Bench of the Supreme Court led by Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud who clustered eight petitions on the face-off.

Senior lawyers Kapil Sibal and Abhishek Manu Singhvi argued for Uddhav Thackeray’s team in the Court while Harish Salve, Neeraj Kaul and Mahesh Jethmalani represented Eknath Shinde’s camp.