Supreme Court’s Notice to the Speaker
OFFICE OF THE LEADER OF
OPPOSITION
Gujarat Vidhansabha, Gandhinagar.
Press Note Dt. 9-10-2009
Supreme Court has issued notice to the Speaker of Gujarat Assembly. This follows a petition filed by the leader of Opposition Shaktisinh Gohil about the autocratic and unconstitutional rejection of the application for the Removal of the Speaker from the office.
The matter came up before the Court number four of the Supreme Court today. The Court heard the matter and issued notice to the Speaker as to why it should not be admitted.
In his petition Gohil drew the attention of the series of incidents in which the Speaker Ashok Bhatt took a partisan view. He did not allow the Opposition to raise the serious issue of the biggest ever Lattha tragedy in Gujarat in which more than 100 persons had died in two days.
The speaker rejected the request of the Opposition for adjournment motion on the ground that the move did not fulfill minimum one hour notice period condition for adjournment motion. Many Congress members were suspended and expelled from the House for the entire budget session when they protested against the Speaker’s stand.
This, Gohil told the Court, forced Congress to move an application for the removal of the Speaker from the office. On July 14, the Speaker communicated to Congress and NCP that the application for the removal of the Speaker had been admitted and would come up in the House on July 28 after the expiry of the 14 day notice period.
However, much to the surprise of all, the Speaker on July 17 issued another letter on July 17. He misinterpreted the constitutional requirement of 14 day notice period and claimed that 14 day notice period did not include holiday. Congress had not given 14 working day notice period and hence the notice stands null and void, he observed.
What is more, the Speaker cancelled the notice which can never be done since it was a constitutional provision. Rule 21 of the Assembly Rules make it clear that if the notice does not meet the 14 day requirement, it is carried forward to the next session.
The petition said that this established that the action of the Speaker was totally unconstitutional and violative of the rules of the Assembly and set parliamentary practices.
Notice was issued by Hon’ble Justice Ravindran and Hon’ble Justice Singhvi.
Senior Advocate Mr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi has appeared for Shaktisinh Gohil.
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To,
The Editor,
Hon’ble Leader of the Opposition has requested to publish above Press note in your esteemed newspaper.
(J. J. Rasania)
Personal Assistant