The Hindu : National : Echo in Parliament over court order on Jharkhand

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Friday, Mar 11, 2005

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National

Echo in Parliament over court order on Jharkhand

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, MARCH 10. Parliament today witnessed noisy scenes over the Supreme Court directive on Jharkhand even as the Government expressed its willingness to convene an all-party meeting to discuss the matter.

As soon as the Lok Sabha assembled in the morning, the members of the Left parties led by Basudeb Acharia raised the issue, with the Rashtriya Janata Dal and Congress MPs lending support. The matter kept cropping up intermittently as agitated Left party MPs sought to draw the House's attention to the issue.

The Speaker, Somnath Chatterjee, informed the House that considering the importance, he had called a meeting of the leaders in the evening after which he would make his observation. He even admonished some members who insisted that the issue be taken up immediately. "Because of the way we are behaving, other organs are getting importance," he said. "Organs of the state should conduct [themselves] within powers," the Speaker later said.

In the Rajya Sabha, the issue was raised by the Communist Party of India (Marxist)'s Nilotpal Basu but noisy interruptions by the BJP members drowned the House in the din. Even when the Deputy Chairman, K. Rehman Khan, said that Mr. Basu had taken the permission to raise the matter, it made no difference to the noise in the House.

Sushma's objection

Fali S. Nariman (Nominated) stood up and had barely said that he was a supporter of judicial activism when the BJP's Sushma Swaraj raised a point of order. Ms. Swaraj said that as Mr. Nariman was a lawyer in the Supreme Court in the Jharkhand case and had a conflict of interest on the issue he should not be allowed to speak.

Her objection triggered a fresh wave of protests, with the Congress and the Left parties accusing the NDA members of casting aspersions on the personal integrity of Mr. Nariman, a senior lawyer.

Amid heated exchanges between the ruling and Opposition benches, Mr. Nariman said that he was yielding to Ms. Swaraj and did not wish to say anything on the issue even as he was requested by the Congress members to make his observations. At one point, the Deputy Chairman expressed his helplessness by saying that he had allowed Mr. Nariman to speak but the member had chosen not to make any observations.

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