Mahua Moitra case: Adhir asks Speaker to relook at parliament panel rules

Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Saturday (December 2) demanded a relook at the rules and processes of parliamentary committees related to Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra.

Raising the issue in his personal capacity, Chowdhury, the Congress party’s Lok Sabha leader, said he expected Speaker Om Birla to act with a sense of justice.

He said the subject had become important in view of the Ethics Committee's proceedings against Moitra in a "cash-for-query" case and the suggestion that she be expelled from the Lok Sabha.

In a four-page letter, Chowdhury said there was no clear demarcation in the roles envisaged for the Privileges Committee and the Ethics Committee, especially on exercising penal powers.

Additionally, there was no clear definition of "unethical conduct" and a "code of conduct".

These issues, inclusive of the procedures being followed by the committee, may require deeper attention and the processes streamlined under the Speaker's guidance, said Chowdhury, who is also chairman of the Public Accounts Committee.

Monday report

The report of the Ethics Committee recommending Moitra’s expulsion will be tabled in the Lok Sabha on Monday.

The committee, at a meeting on November 9, adopted its report recommending Moitra's expulsion.

Chowdhury said in his letter: "I am writing … on the need for having a relook and appropriately reviewing and recasting the rules and processes that relate to the functioning of parliamentary committees that are primarily concerned with the interests and rights of Members of Lok Sabha viz, Privileges Committee, Ethics Committee, etc.

"I have felt this to be necessary mainly in the light of the phenomenal coverage, scrutiny and analysis — substantial amount of which was unwarranted — that the working of the Ethics Committee of Parliament received in the matter of examining and reporting on the purported acts of misdemeanour on the part of … Mahua Moitra," he said.

He urged the Speaker to “have the entire processes relating to the jurisdiction and procedures followed examined and such remedial measures, as needed, taken towards streamlining the functioning".

Dubai businessman

He went on: "The purported act of misdemeanour on the part of Mahua Moitra, which is sharing her 'login credentials and passwords' for the 'official portal' with a Dubai-based businessman to 'raise questions in Parliament in return for gifts/favours' has also been compared and a parallel drawn with the 2005 case where 10 members of Lok Sabha were expelled for receiving cash for posing questions in Parliament."

Chowdhury said the Dubai-based businessman who purportedly had access to Moitra's "login credentials" and was placing questions on her behalf was not called for deposing.

"Accepting gifts and giving gifts … applied is a common social practice and it would be extremely difficult to link or attribute accepting gifts to be a money trail for deriving favours," Chowdhury said in the letter.

The Congress leader pointed out that while the proceedings of the committee's sittings are confidential, its chairman and complainant members “were openly parading their views and passing judgments while the matter was under investigation”.

(With agency inputs)