Suspension of 14 MPs revoked

New Delhi: On the eve of the Budget Session, the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha chairs revoked the suspensions of 14 Opposition MPs, allowing them to participate in House proceedings.

The reinstated MPs, 11 from the Rajya Sabha and 3 from the Lok Sabha, faced suspension during the last session and had their cases referred to respective privileges committees.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi confirmed the move, stating that both Speaker Om Birla and Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar agreed to the government’s request to lift the suspensions.

The Lok Sabha’s Privileges Committee had recommended leniency for its three suspended members – Abdul Khaleque, K Jayakumar, and Vijay Vasanth – who expressed regret for their conduct during the Winter session. Their relentless protests had prompted the Speaker to take action.

The Rajya Sabha committee, however, took a firmer stance. While finding all 11 suspended members guilty of breaching privilege and contempt of the Council, Chairman Dhankhar opted to personally revoke their suspensions in light of the upcoming session. In its report to the Rajya Sabha chairman a day before the session starts on Wednesday, the committee also recommended that the period of suspension already suffered by the members be treated as “sufficient punishment” for the transgression.

The MPs held “guilty of breach of privilege and contempt of the Council” of States are Jebi Mather Hisham, L Hanumanthaiah, Neeraj Dangi, Rajmani Patel, Kumar Ketkar, G C Chandrashekhar, Binoy Viswam, Sandosh Kumar P, M Mohamed Abdulla, John Brittas and A A Rahim.

The committee presented the report to Dhankhar, taking note of the situation that the suspended members would not be able to attend the special address of President Droupadi Murmu to both Houses of Parliament, the first address in the new building of Parliament, on Wednesday.

The committee usually submits its recommendations to the House.

The sources said the chairman invoked the authority vested in him under the rules of procedure to revoke their suspension enabling the members to attend the special address by the president.

While a total of 146 opposition MPs, including 100 of the Lok Sabha, were suspended for bringing placards into the chambers and frequently disrupting parliamentary proceedings, the transgressions by these 14 were considered more serious.

The Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha had together suspended 132 MPs for the remainder of the Winter session, which ended on December 21, and had referred the case of these 14 MPs to the respective privilege committee.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Joshi told reporters on Tuesday, “Everybody’s suspension will be withdrawn. We have requested the (Lok Sabha) speaker and the (Rajya Sabha) chairperson on behalf of the government and they have agreed.”

He, however, asserted that leaders of different parties who attended an all-party meeting ahead of the session were told that they should follow the decision that MPs should not bring placards or similar materials inside chambers during the session or else the Chairs will be forced to take action.

Some of the suspended Lok Sabha MPs were informed about the speaker’s decision Tuesday evening.