KOLKATA: Bengal assembly speaker Biman Banerjee on Friday administered
oath
of office to newly elected MLAs
Sayantika Banerjee
and Reyat Hossain Sarkar, prompting
governor
C V Ananda Bose to complain to Prez Droupadi Murmu alleging “constitutional impropriety”.
Speaker
Banerjee, however, said he had “adhered to rules”.
On Thursday, Bose had authorised deputy speaker Asish Banerjee to swear in two
MLAs
under Article 188 of the Constitution.
On Friday, before the assembly convened for a special session, the business advisory committee decided that the speaker should administer oath to the MLAs. When the session began at 2pm, speaker Banerjee said his office had received an email at 9.22pm on Thursday from the governor’s officer, in which Bose had appointed the deputy speaker to administer the oath.
The deputy speaker, however, refused to do so. “The speaker is present in the House. In his presence, I cannot be blind to norms (and administer oath). This will be disrespectful and demeaning to the chair,” he said, urging the speaker to administer the oath, who did it immediately.
State parliamentary affairs minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay said rule 5 of chapter II of Rules and Procedure of Conduct of Business in the assembly stated that an “MLA who has not taken oath in pursuance of Article 188 may do so at the commencement of a sitting of the House, or at any other time of the sitting of the House, as the Speaker may direct”. No law had been violated, Chattopadhyay asserted.
The governor, however, differed. Citing Article 188, which says MLAs should take their oath either from the governor or any person appointed by the governor, Bose alleged: “This constitutional transgression has been done in spite of the governor appointing deputy speaker as the person before whom the two newly elected MLAs shall take oath.”
