"Speakers Have To Follow The Precedent": Om Birla On Cash-For-Query Row

Amid the heated debate on 'Cash for Query' in the Lok Sabha today, Speaker Om Birla has said that the House has the tradition that the traditions followed by the previous Speakers are always followed by the next Speakers.

"I have a copy of the traditions that were followed earlier. Former Speakers Somnath Chatterjee and Pranab Mukherjee were here earlier. The rules and traditions that they gave are considered our rules. Somnath Chatterjee had said that the Members against whom there are accusations are given ample time to speak before the Committee. This House has the tradition that the traditions followed by the previous Speakers are always further followed by the next Speakers," Om Birla said in the Lok Sabha.

Trinamool Congress MP, Kalyan Banerjee said that the fair trial would be there only when an affected person is being heard and requested Speaker Om Birla to allow Mahua Moitra to speak.

Kalyan Banerjee said "The fair trial would be there only when an affected is being heard. If an affected person is not heard, there cannot be any fair trial. Today, we are deciding the rights of a person. When we are deciding the rights of a person, we are all acting as a quasi-judicial body. I request you, kindly allow Mahua Moitra to be heard."

He further said that no affidavit can be relied upon unless a person comes and says that whatever I have said is correct.

"Fundamentals principles of the law state that a person whom against a charge has been brought, and the person who are bringing the charges should be established according to the procedure of law. This case will clearly reveal that; the main man was Darshan Hiranandani who has relied upon his statement. His affidavit has been brought here who was not brought as a witness and he has not testified it. No affidavit can be relied upon unless person comes and says that whatever I have said is correct," Kalyan Banerjee said in the Lok Sabha.

He also asserted that TMC MP Mahua Moitra has every right to cross-examine each and every person who brought charges against her.

"Right of cross-examination is a fair hearing. It has to be made meaningful right? Whoever has brought charges, Mahua has the right to cross-examine each and every person but it did not happen. Law is developing in our country because of the interpretation of it by the Supreme Court of India. The principles of natural justice is implicit in Article 14 of the Constitution of India. Mahua Moitra's protection under Article 14 has been violated by the Ethics Committee. Constitutional violate is been made," he added.

The Ethics Committee report probing 'Unethical Conduct' of Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Mahua Moitra in the "cash for query" case that was tabled in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday recommended that Moitra "may be expelled" from the Lok Sabha and called for an "intense, legal, institutional inquiry" by the central government in a "time-bound manner".

"The serious misdemeanours on the part of Mahua Moitra calls for severe punishment. The Committee, therefore, recommend that Mahua Moitra, MP may be expelled from the Membership of the Seventeenth Lok Sabha," the report read.

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