CLP leader urges Birla to have the Ethics Committee procedure re-examined

Shubhadeep Choudhury                                                                                                      New Delhi, December 2

Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, leader of the Congress party in the Lok Sabha, has urged the Speaker Om Birla to have the process relating to the jurisdiction and procedures followed by the Ethics Committee of the Lok Sabha to investigate the complaint of misdemeanour by Trinamool Congress member Mahua Moitra “examined” and take remedial measures to “streamline” the committee’s functioning.

The Ethics Committee is slated to lay its report on Moitra in the Lok Sabha on the inaugural day of the Winter Session of Parliament on Monday. This is expected to be followed by her expulsion from the Lok Sabha as recommended in the report.

In a three and half page letter to Birla, Chowdhury said Moitra’s case was the first instance of the Ethics Committee recommending expulsion of a member from the Lok Sabha. “Expulsion from Parliament, you will agree Sir, is an extremely serious punishment and has very wide ramifications”, Chowdhury wrote.

Chowdhury, leader of the largest opposition party in the Lok Sabha, said the purported act of misdemeanour on the part of Moitra (sharing her log-in credentials and passwords for the official portal of the Lok Sabha with Dubai based businessman Darshan Hiranandani to raise questions in Parliament in return for gifts/favours) should not be compared with the 2005 case when 10 members of Lok Sabha were expelled for receiving cash for posing questions in Parliament or the case of HD Mudgal that dated back to 1951.

In the two above-mentioned cases, the charges were examined and reported upon by separate committees of the House that were constituted for the specific purpose of examining and reporting on the charges against the members, the CLP leader said.

Choudhury added that the 2005 case was the fall out of a sting operation carried out by “Cobra Post” which showed the members accepting cash for posing questions.

All concerned in the 2005 case, including the media personnel who carried out the sting operation, and members accused of having indulged in acts of misdemeanour were examined on oath, their evidence recorded and made part of the report of the panel, Chowdhury wrote.

The CLP leader wrote that on the contrary, the Dubai based businessman was not asked by the Vinod Sonkar-led Ethics Committee of the Lok Sabha to depose before it.

Chowdhury added that accepting gifts and giving away gifts was a common social practice and should not be treated as a money trail for deriving favours.

Stating that it is not always possible for a member to operate the parliament portal oneself,  Chowdhury wrote that it is on account of this factor that the staff attached to Members were imparted training on various aspects of the functions of the portal.

The CLP leader also pointed out that a question that is placed or given notice of by a member is subject to scrutiny and becomes admissible only if it meets the “conditionalities” laid down in the Rules of Procedure.