House in disorder, Speaker calls all-party meeting

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 29

Daily disruptions and show of indiscipline in Lok Sabha have prompted Speaker Sumitra Mahajan to call a first-of-its-kind all-party meeting of leaders to discuss mechanisms of enforcing decorum in the House.

Scheduled for tomorrow, the meeting will consider the recent display of placards by members of the Opposition Congress and ruling BJP despite Speaker’s repeated instructions not to do so. Defiance of her instructions led to the suspension of Congress member from Bahrampur Adhir Ranjan Choudhry for a day on July 27 with the Speaker noting in her orders.

“The member hasn’t apologised for his disorderly conduct in the right earnest. I refuse to accept his apology. He may remove himself from the precincts of Lok Sabha for the day.”

The Speaker had earlier hinted she would speak to all parties to find a way out of this “ugly display of placards” which is expressly banned by rules of conduct of Lok Sabha.

Under the rules, the Speaker has three options to deal with disruptive MPs — ask them to mend their ways; name them under the rule that enables automatic suspension of an MP upon Speaker’s naming or suspend them for a certain period on a Motion for Suspension moved by the government as was done on July 27 and on some occasions in the 15th Lok Sabha to suspend Andhra MPs protesting the creation of Telangana.

PDT Achary, former Secretary General of Lok Sabha, says: “Rules of conduct allow members to protest in the House but the protest should not be demonstrative in nature. Holding placards is forbidden by rules. The idea is to maintain the distinction between the House and the street. There is a rule which enables automatic suspension of a disorderly member soon as the Speaker names him but this rule is seldom invoked. In the past, placards have rarely been shown. If at all, these have been shown by members of regional parties. This is the first time, MPs of the principal Opposition and the ruling party have displayed hoardings in Lok Sabha. This is serious.”

In the 15th Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar had ordered few suspensions for disorderly conduct and the use of pepper spray in LS. On February 13, 2014 17 Andhra MPs of Lok Sabha were suspended for protesting against Telangana formation. On September 4, 2013, 12 Andhra LS MPs were suspended. Earlier on April 24, 2012, eight Congress MPs from Telangana were suspended for four days.