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Prez summons ministers
President Pranab Mukherjee Summons Congress Ministers Over Ordinance On Convicted Lawmakers. Pranab summoned Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and Union Law Minister Kapil Sibal to find out from the UPA government the urgency for promulgating the Ordinance on protecting the convicted MPs and MLAs from immediate disqualification.
- Where’s the urgency, Pranab asks Shinde, Sibal
- BJP asks Prez to send it back for reconsideration
Anita Saluja
New Delhi: President Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday summoned Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and Union Law Minister Kapil Sibal to find out from the UPA government the urgency for promulgating the Ordinance on protecting the convicted MPs and MLAs from immediate disqualification. The President, sources stated, is unhappy with the government’s move and wanted to seek explanation from the government. It is not known whether the President was satisfied with the explanation given by the two senior ministers.
Apparently, the Ordinance was brought in hurriedly to save RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav, who faces the prospect of conviction in the fodder scam, besides Congress MP Rasheed Masood who is convicted by a Special CBI Court for corruption, criminal conspiracy, cheating and forgery in a 1991 case.
Earlier, the BJP had petitioned Mukherjee to send back the Ordinance for reconsideration. A high-level delegation led by NDA Working Chairman L K Advani and comprising of Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley insisted that the Ordinance should not be signed by the President, as it was unconstitutional.
Emerging from the meeting with the President at the Rashtrapati Bhawan, leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj said, “This Ordinance is immoral, illegal and unconstitutional.” The BJP leaders maintained that the law declared by the Supreme Court clearly is that there is an express limit on the power of Parliament, which cannot wholly or partially allow convicted legislator to continue to exercise any rights of a legislator. The Ordinance confers the right to attend and participate in the proceedings, though without the right to vote and draw salary.
Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley pointed out that in view of the express language of Article 102 and Article 191 of the Constitution, the Ordinance cannot confer such a facility to an otherwise disqualified legislator. The Supreme Court judgment of July 10, striking down Section 8 (4) of the Representation of Peoples Act 1951 as ultra vires, was an opportunity for political parties to take at least one step forward.
Through the Ordinance, the Congress-led UPA Government suggested an amendment to the Representation of People’s Act and substituted the original ultra vires Section 8(4) with a new formulation. The new formulation entails that the disqualification of a convicted member of a legislative body would be deferred and the member would continue to be a law-maker with a restriction that he cannot draw his salary or vote in the process of law making. The BJP raised the question why should a convicted person be a lawmaker?
