JPC on removal of PM, CMs under arrest for 30 days does not inspire confidence: Derek O'brien

New Delhi: As several Opposition parties have announced that they will not participate in the Joint Parliamentary Committee that will look into the new bills proposing to remove the prime minister, chief ministers and other ministers if they are arrested for 30 days, Trinamool Congress leader Derek O'Brien on Friday said the panel does not inspire confidence. He listed examples of Opposition objections before Joint Parliamentary Committees (JPC) that are usually dominated by ruling party legislators. In a blog titled 'Six reasons why JPCs do not inspire confidence' published on Friday, the Rajya Sabha leader cited past cases where the Opposition raised objections before a JPC. Mentioning the joint panel that was constituted in 1987 to investigate the Bofors contract scam, he said six major Opposition parties had boycotted the committee since a majority of its members were from the Congress.

"Two of the parties are still BJP allies: Telugu Desam party (TDP) and Asom Gana Parishad (AGP). The committee's report, presented in 1988, was rejected by the Opposition (non-Congress) for being biased," he said. The TMC leader also gave reference of a JPC formed to investigate the Augusta Westland VVIP choppers case in 2013. When the motion for its formation was passed in the Rajya Sabha, the then leader of opposition Arun Jaitley had said that it will be an "exercise in futility" and a "diversionary tactic" by the government, he wrote. Since 2014, Parliament has set up 11 JPCs, O'Brien said, adding that the motion for constituting the JPC was adopted on the last day of the session in seven cases. "In contrast, between 2004 and 2014, three JPCs were set up, none were set on the last day," he said. The TMC leader also pointed out the recent report of a JPC on the Waqf Amendment Bill, which was tabled in Parliament after redacting the Opposition's dissent notes. "After vociferous protests by the Opposition, BJP MP Medha Kulkarni, who had tabled the report in Rajya Sabha in the morning, had to table post-lunch a corrigendum to Appendix 5, which contained the notes that were redacted," he wrote.

O'Brien also said the Congress formed the JPC on Bofors in 1987, and in the next elections held in 1989, they failed to form the government. Similarly, in 1992, the Congress formed a JPC on Harshad Mehta scam, and failed to form the government in 1996 Lok Sabha polls. He also mentioned the JPCs on Ketan Parekh scam formed by the BJP in 2002 and 2003, and the JPCs on 2G scam and on VVIP chopper scam formed by the Congress in 2011 and 2013, adding that the parties lost the Lok Sabha elections that followed. "Coincidence or trend?" the TMC leader asked. The Government of Union Territories (Amendment) Bill 2025, the Constitution (One Hundred And Thirtieth Amendment) Bill 2025 and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill 2025 were introduced in the Lok Sabha last week amid vociferous protests by Opposition. Tempers flared in the Lok Sabha, copies of the bills were torn and flung, and members of the ruling and Opposition alliances came face to face when the home minister moved to introduce the bills.

The bills, which provide a legal framework for the removal of the prime minister, chief ministers and ministers if they are arrested for 30 consecutive days on serious charges, have been referred to a JPC. Both the Houses have passed a resolution to refer the bills to a JPC comprising 21 members from the Lok Sabha and 10 from the Rajya Sabha, and the committee has been mandated to submit its report to the House in the winter session, which is likely to be convened in the third week of November. So far, the TMC, Samajwadi Party, Aam Aadmi Party, and Shiv Sena (UBT) have announced that they will not nominate any of their MPs for the panel.