The Congress’ leader in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Saturday wrote to Speaker Om Birla, demanding that the rules on the functioning of parliamentary committees be reviewed.
Chowdhury wrote the letter in the context of proceedings in the Lok Sabha’s Ethics Committee against Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, who has been accused of taking bribes to ask questions in the Lok Sabha.
The Congress MP, in the four-page letter, contended that there was no clear-cut demarcation in the roles envisaged for the Privileges Committee and the Ethics Committee, especially when exercising penal powers.
He said that there was no clear definition of the term “unethical conduct,” and added that while a “code of conduct” has been envisaged under Rule 316B of the Rules of Procedure, such a code has not yet been formulated.
BJP MP Nishikant Dubey and advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai, reportedly her estranged partner, have accused Moitra of taking bribes from businessman Darshan Hiranandani to ask questions in Parliament.
“The questions were also often focused on the Adani Group; another business conglomerate, Hiranandani Group, was bidding for business against them,” the BJP MP claimed.
Moitra clarified in an interview in October that she gave Hiranandani access to her online Lok Sabha account but denied taking any bribes from him. She had claimed that MPs do not type their own questions and that the queries can only be submitted upon entering a one-time password, which is delivered to the phone number of the legislators.
The Lok Sabha ethics panel, which investigated the allegations, recommended Moitra’s expulsion from Parliament, alleging that her actions were “highly objectionable, unethical, heinous, and criminal.” The panel adopted its draft report on November 8, with six panel members supporting it and four submitting dissent notes.
Chowdhury on Saturday said that if reports that the Ethics Committee has recommended Moitra’s expulsion are correct, it would be the first such recommendation. This, he said, is an “extremely serious punishment and has very wide ramifications.”
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