New Delhi: Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar has asked the Committee of Privileges to probe the breach of privilege by the 12 opposition MPs for “repeatedly entering the Well of the Council, raising slogans and persistently and willfully obstructing the proceedings of the Council”.
According to the Bulletin of the Rajya Sabha, out of these 12 MPs, nine are from the Congress and three from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). The names of the Congress MPs mentioned in the reference are Shaktisinh Gohil, Naranbhai J Rathwa, Syed Nasir Hussain, Kumar Ketkar, Imran Pratapgarhi, L Hanumanthaiah, Phulo Devi Netam, JB Mather Hisham and Ranjit Ranjan. AAP’s members are Sanjay Singh, Sushil Kumar Gupta and Sandeep Kumar Pathak.
In a separate notice, the Rajya Sabha secretariat said the committee has been asked under Rule 267 to probe the breach of privilege against Singh for repeatedly submitting similar notices.
“Members are informed that the Chairman, Rajya Sabha has referred a question of alleged breach of privilege arising out of non-observance of the instructions of the Chairman in comparison to repeated submission of identical notices under Rule 267 by Shri Sanjay Singh Member, Rajya Sabha, under Rule 203 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Council of States (Rajya Sabha) to the Committee of Privileges for examination, inquiry and report,” the bulletin said.
The committee has also been asked to probe the allegation of breach of privilege against Congress MP Rajni Patil, who has been suspended for the duration of the budget session that resumes in March. Patil was suspended on February 10 for recording the proceedings of the House, which were later shared on social media platforms. Dhankhar had recommended disciplinary action following a complaint from the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The first part of the budget session, which ended on February 13, was marked by disruptions as opposition MPs demanded a discussion on the Hindenburg report alleging financial irregularities by the Adani group, which led to a sharp fall in the group’s shares. Was.
According to an official aware of the matter, “Some members had complained that repeated interruptions by some MPs was a breach of their privilege.” Since members cannot complain directly to the Committee of Privileges, the matter came up before the Speaker who, as per rule, referred it to the Committee of Privileges for inquiry, investigation and report.
