New Delhi, February 4
Backed by the support of presiding officers of legislative bodies and political parties, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee today said the Supreme Court notice on the MPs expulsion was “not called for.”
The emergency meeting of the presiding officers, which was inaugurated by Somnath Chatterjee, today unanimously endorsed the view that the Lok Sabha Speaker should not accept or respond to the notices issued by the courts of law.
“I feel that it would have been proper if the court had first decided as to whether the court itself had the consitutional authority to look into the question and whether it had any right to issue notice to the Speaker of the Lok Sabha on a matter clearly indicated by the Constitution as the exclusive domain of the Legislature,” Somnath said.
Chatterjee, however, maintained that he, as also the presiding officers were not for any confrontation with the Judiciary.
“It is the farthest from my mind. Neither the Legislature will gain anything by having confrontation. They are occupying different areas altogether, spaces are different, and functions are different. It was made different by the Constitution. Where is the question of confrontation”, Chatterjee said.
At the same time, he noted that when Parliament had taken the decision to expel the members, it was the votes by the MPs, which resulted in such an action and the “question of confrontation comes because there is a challenge to the decision of the House.”
Attended by presiding officers of a number of states, the meeting saw Jharkhand Assembly Speaker Indersingh Namdhari moving the resolution, which was seconded by Speakers of UP Mataprasad Pandey and West Bengal Hashim Abdul Halim.
However, there was no representation from Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Uttaranchal, and Pondicherry.
