'How can a minority party hold Parliament to ransom?'
Constitutional experts and legal luminaries are divided over Speaker Purno A Sangma's decision to adjourn the Lok Sabha sine die following uproarious scenes over the Jain Commission report.
Almost all of them, however, agreed that it was well within the Speaker's powers to take such a decision.
Expressing anguish over the nature of allegations being traded by Lok Sabha members belonging to various political parties, Sangma said, ''Parliament should not be used as a forum to level charges of
parties being national or anti-national.... Such political stalemates should be thrashed outside the House.''
Sources said the Speaker felt such unruly behaviour in the House would harm the country's image.
''This method of shock treatment'' is necessary to discipline MPs, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and former prime minister, said.
Disclosing that the Bharatiya Janata Party was satisfied with Sangma's decision, Vajpayee said, ''The Speaker has assured that the adjournment
would not lead to dissolution of the House as he can reconvene the
Lok Sabha 'at any time'.''
The Speaker told the BJP leader that he had ''not consulted the
government nor any political party'' before taking the decision.
Caught unawares by the development, Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral and Home Minister Inderjit Gupta called on the Speaker.
Former Lok Sabha secretary general Subhash Kashyap, however, criticised Sangma's decision. ''You mean to say that the House will not conduct any business because of one party's unruly behaviour,'' he told Rediff On The NeT. ''Just because of the Congress, how can the House be adjourned endlessly? The party should have acted in a responsible manner, considering that so many important bills -- like the Insurance Regulatory Authority and the Women's Reservation -- were to be discussed and passed by Parliament.
''The party does not want any discussion on the Jain Commission report in the House lest its own shortcoming be exposed. It wants Gujral to go quietly to the President, and submit his resignation, keeping its image intact. What kind of democracy is this, where a minority party holds the country to ransom?''
Asked what alternative action could have been taken, Kashyap said, "Instead of adjourning the Lok Sabha indefinitely, the Speaker should have suspended those members who were causing unruly scenes."
Recalling last month's developments in Uttar Pradesh, Kashyap said Sangma had criticised UP assembly Speaker Kesri Nath Tripathi for not taking action against the legislators who misbehaved in the House. "I don't understand why Sangma did not take action against members who were causing hindrances in the Lok Sabha. He should have suspended some of them and that was well within his right.''
Under the Constitution, when the Speaker adjourns the Lok Sabha sine die, he can reconvene the House by issuing notice to members.
"In 1979, when rumours spread about Jayaprakash Narayan's death, the Lok Sabha was adjourned sine die. However, when it was confirmed that JP did not pass away, the House was immediately reconvened the same afternoon."
Considering the present situation where the Congress is trying to make political capital out of the issue, can President K R Narayanan intervene? ''He does not come into the picture until the Speaker officially writes him a letter, informing him that the House has been prorogued.''
Asked whether Kesri can withdraw support to the UF government without the Lok Sabha coming into the picture, he said, "The government's future can be decided only in the Lok Sabha."
Asked if the President can invite the BJP to form a government if Kesri withdraws support to the government, Kashyap said, "The present prime minister will have to resign or will have to be defeated on the floor of the House. Only then will the question of forming another government arise."
Syed Firdaus Ashraf, UNI
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