Assembly brings privilege motion against CBI, ED officials for disrespecting House

Kolkata: A privilege motion was moved against two officials of the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) and ED (Enforcement Directorate) in the state Assembly on Wednesday for allegedly demeaning the dignity of the Speaker's chair by not seeking consent of the Speaker before filing a charge-sheet and arresting three Trinamool Congress (TMC) legislator in the Narada sting case .

The privilege motion moved by Tapas Roy, TMC's deputy chief whip in the Assembly, was accepted by the House and forwarded to the committee of privileges for further proceedings.

He stated that three party legislators—Firhad Hakim, Madan Mitra and late Subrata Mukherjee—were arrested by the CBI in May but no permission was sought from Speaker Biman Banerjee.

The Speaker was kept in the dark about the development.

Breach of privileges were moved against Satyendra Singh, Deputy SP of CBI, and Rathin Biswas, Assistant Director of ED.

According to a senior Trinamool Congress legislator, the central agencies had been given enough opportunity to explain their points not once but three times, however, they avoided to state their stance and the justification of the action taken by them before the Speaker thereby questioning the very authority of the chair.

Speaker Biman Banerjee has referred the matter to the committee of privileges and urged the panel to investigate and submit its report to the House in its next session.

He reiterated that the proceedings of the committee will be treated as confidential.

The CBI arrested the three legislators and former Kolkata Mayor Sovan Chatterjee on May 17, hours after filing its charge-sheet. The ED submitted a charge-sheet against them before a special court in Kolkata on September 1.

Subrata Mukherjee, the most senior member among the accused, died in Kolkata on November 4.