Haryana Assembly Speaker names INLD MLA Abhay Chautala for unparliamentary behaviour; to remain out for two days

Geetanjali Gayatri

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Chandigarh, February 21

Amidst heated arguments, Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) MLA in the Haryana Assembly Abhay Chautala was on Tuesday named by the Speaker and asked not to attend the House proceedings for two days for casting aspersions on the Chair while his “misleading” allegation of a flourishing land mafia in the surrounding area of Hisar airport was referred to the Privileges Committee.

Trouble began between Chautala and his nephew, Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala, during the Zero Hour when the former alleged that land mafia was active in the area where the Hisar airport was coming up.

He also pointed out that in reply to a question in the Parliament, the minister had made it clear that Hisar would not be an international airport. “However, in the name of an international airport, land mafia is flourishing at the behest of the powers that be,” he alleged, adding that it should be investigated.

The Deputy CM who holds the Civil Aviation portfolio, responding to these allegations, clarified that there were no private players in the area and land belonged either to the forest department or the government. He proposed that a privilege motion be brought against the MLA for misleading the House before it was adjourned for lunch.

When the House met after lunch, JJP MLA Jogi Ram Sihag brought a notice of breach of privilege against the INLD MLA.

The notice said that the matter be referred to the Privileges Committee for examination and investigation. It said that the MLA had misled the House and used unparliamentary language, given false facts knowingly and lowered the dignity of the House.

Before Speaker Gian Chand Gupta could proceed, the Congress MLAs contested the move, maintaining that the notice had to be submitted in writing by the member before the proceedings of the day began.

Congress MLA BB Batra, reading from the rules, said that such a notice could not be entertained once the discussion on the Governor’s address had begun.

Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda said that the MLA had not even taken the Chair’s permission to read the notice and asked that the record of proceedings be checked for the same.

With the Congress MLAs adamant that this would be in violation of the rules, the Speaker, realising the position, said that he would give his ruling on the matter later. Later, the notice was admitted and the issue was referred to the Privileges Committee.

Meanwhile, Chautala sought to know why his calling attention motion on the liquor smuggling during lockdown had been deferred after being admitted.

“Since the Home Minister, assigned to reply to the matter, is not present in the House, it can be done by another minister just like questions are answered by other ministers if the minister concerned is not present,” he said, adding that the Speaker should tell him when it will be taken up.

The Speaker said that the new date would be intimated to him later even as Chautala insisted he be conveyed the new date while casting aspersions on the Chair which were later expunged.

The Speaker, taking strong exception, said that Chautala would not be spared for these aspersions. A verbal duel followed in which Chautala asked what the Speaker could do and what he meant when he said that the MLA would not be spared.

The Speaker named the MLA for one day and later named him for two days. Chautala can attend the proceedings of the House on February 23 now, the day the budget is presented.