The Privileges Committee of the Rajya Sabha on Thursday held 12 opposition MPs, including AAP’s Sanjay Singh, guilty of disrupting the proceedings of the House last August and warned them not to do so in future.
In a report tabled in the Upper House of Parliament on Thursday, the privilege panel held AAP MP Sanjay Singh guilty of ignoring the directions of the chairman.
It has accepted Singh’s unconditional plea in the matter and has recommended revoking the suspension after considering that the punishment meted out to him is sufficient.
The AAP MP was suspended from the Rajya Sabha on July 24, 2023, through a motion, for breach of privilege for willfully ignoring directions from the chair, repeatedly violating the rules of the house and making aspersions on the House leader. .
“The committee concluded that 12 members, namely Sanjay Singh, Shaktisinh Gohil, Sushil Kumar Gupta, Sandeep Kumar Pathak, Naranbhai J. Rathwa, L Hanumanthaiah, Syed Nasir Hussain, Kumar Ketkar, Phulo Devi Netam, Jebi Mather Hisham, Ranjeet Ranjan and Imran Pratapgarhi convicted of breach of privilege and commission of contempt of the Council of State.
“The committee, has recommended that no action be taken against Kumar Ketkar, Naranbhai J Rathwa and L Hanumanthaiah who have retired as board members.
“Sanjay Singh, Shaktisinh Gohil, Sushil Kumar Gupta, Sandeep Kumar Pathak, Syed Nasir Hussain, Phulo Devi Netam, Jebi Mather Hisham, Ranjeet Ranjan and Imran Pratapgarhi should desist from such wrongdoings in future and strictly adhere to proper conduct and optimize .performance in the House,” the panel said in a report.
The committee’s report also stated that due to the motion adopted by the Council on August 11 last year, “the suspension suffered by Sanjay Singh is considered a sufficient punishment and the suspension can be revoked with immediate effect with the hope and expectation that it will be.” careful adherence to the regime of conduct received in the House in the future.
“The Committee requested the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha to consider the suspension of Sanjay Singh without waiting for the House to reconvene for the next Session.” The panel, in another report, stated that with the misconduct of the parliamentarians, “not only the temple of democracy was abused, but also the faith of the people was insulted and the constitutional ordination was ignored”.
“The impolite actions of Members of Parliament by committing offenses and breaking the rules if considered will be the death of democracy. Even though the members who apologized, the committee is of the opinion that they do not meet the criteria mentioned in the 75th Committee Report to receive an apology without requirements.
“In this case, even an unqualified apology can only be a factor for punishment and not for exoneration,” said the panel.
In a separate report on AAP’s Sanjay Singh, the committee observed that the member had committed “disgraceful and dishonorable conduct by trampling on the privileges of his colleagues by disrupting the proceedings of the Council due to his indecent conduct”.
“Sanjay Singh left no stone unturned to justify/confuse one pretext or the other before tendering an unconditional apology after a lot of hardship. Even finally the invalid and unconditional apology given by Sanjay Singh cannot be a premise for early reprivation as there are circumstances that dangerous,” the panel said.
Saying that although his conduct warrants a good sentence, the committee said that taking into account all the facts and circumstances of the case it is recommended that Singh’s unconditional apology be accepted and that the suspension imposed so far is sufficient.
The panel said the Board may consider extending Sanjay Singh’s suspension with immediate effect.
Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar on Thursday announced in the House that Sanjay Singh is suspended from the House from July 24, 2023, until the Privileges Committee submits its findings and finds Singh guilty of wrongdoing.
He said that the Privileges Committee of the Rajya Sabha on June 26, 2024, presented its 77th and 78th Reports on pending matters against Singh.
“The committee while holding Sanjay Singh guilty of violating the privileges of the Council in all cases, recommended that the member has suffered enough punishment for the violation,” Dhankhar said.
“Invoking the authority granted to me under Rule 202 and 266 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Rajya Sabha, the suspension of Sanjay Singh, Member, is lifted with effect from June 26, 2024, so as to allow him to attend Parliament. I believe the House agreed to this,” said the chairman.
In another report, the Privileges panel put to rest the issue related to the breach of privilege against ‘Telangana Today’, after its editor accepted the mistake of misreporting from the beginning and asked that it was not intentional and apologized unconditionally. for “misreporting” in a Rajya Sabha business advisory committee meeting.
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from the feed of syndicated news agency – PTI)