Speaker comes under fire from opposition Cong, INLD

CHANDIGARH: Haryana Vidhan Sabha speaker Kanwar Pal came in for heavy criticism from the opposition Congress and the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) during the second sitting of the final day of the assembly session.

The Congress questioned the speaker’s knowledge of parliamentary procedures and rules with regards to his decision to hand out a year-long suspension to Palwal MLA Karan Singh Dalal. Congress MLA Kuldeep Sharma, a former speaker, said at a press conference that speaker Kanwar Pal has no knowledge of law. “Is he fit to be the speaker? Neither he has understanding of rules nor the ability to function and take decisions independently.

The speaker is functioning at the behest of the ruling party,’’ Sharma alleged. The INLD, on a different note, criticised the speaker in the House itself.

Leader of the Opposition Abhay Singh Chautala, against whom a censure motion was passed by the House, accused the speaker of remaining a mute spectator when Congress MLA Karan Singh Dalal was using foul language against him.

“Your handling was less than satisfactory as you never intervened to stop those who were making disparaging remarks against me, my father and grandfather. And then you brought a censure motion against me. This is highly unacceptable,’’ Abhay told Kanwar Pal asking him to withdraw the censure.

Abhay also accused the ruling party MLAs of provoking him by making unnecessary remarks.

At the start of the zero hour during the second sitting, Congress MLA Raghubir Singh Kadian said that as per Section 104-B of the rules of procedure and conduct of business of the assembly, a member can only be suspended from the service of the House for a period not exceeding the remainder of the session.

“I can challenge there is no provision in the law allowing suspension of a legislator for a year. Can you please tell the House under which rule did you order one-year suspension of Karan Dalal,’’ Kadian said.

The Congress MLA said though the motion to oust Dalal was passed by the House, it was the speaker who is responsible for this decision. Speaker Kanwar Pal, however, said the decision to suspend Dalal for a year was not his, but of the House.

The Congress MLAs later assembled in the well of the House to press home their point. The speaker, who patiently heard them looked perplexed and could not offer a convincing justification.

Former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda (Cong) then asked the speaker to put to vote a motion proposed by the Congress MLAs seeking a similar suspension of Abhay Chautala. The motion was, however, disallowed by the speaker who ordered a short break to discuss the issue in his chamber.

The Congress MLAs later staged a walkout after the speaker refused to revoke Dalal’s suspension, terming it a black day in the history of the state assembly. Independent MLA Jai Prakash too joined the Congress MLAs after condemning the conduct of treasury benches and the opposition INLD.

Hooda later said a press conference that the very fact that their motion seeking Chautala’s suspension was disallowed clearly indicated that the ruling BJP supported the un-parliamentary acts of Chautala. “We will move the high court against the speaker’s decision to suspend Dalal for a year,’’ said Hooda.

CONGRESS QUESTIONS KANWAR PAL’S KNOWLEDGE OF PARLIAMENTARY PROCEDURES

AND RULES