Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on Wednesday condemned the behaviour of leader of Opposition Vijay Kumar Malhotra and demanded an apology from him for demanding the resignation of Delhi Assembly Speaker Yoganand Shastri.
Malhotra had written to the l-G seeking the dismissal of Shastri over "serious remarks" made against him by the lokayukta in a case of misusing public funds.
In a statement in Delhi Assembly, Dikshit said the BJP members have shown "great disrespect" to the Speaker by demanding his resignation on the basis of a "unverified report".
"The House strongly condemns the unprecedented behaviour of the leader of Opposition and members of his party for asking the resignation of the Speaker. They have shown great disrespect to the chair of the Speaker. The members, including myself, express deep anguish and pain over this sort of uncalled for attitude of the leader of Opposition," she said.
Dikshit said the lokayukta did not have any authority to make remarks on a constitutional authority. "Even the Delhi lokayukta Act, 1995 clearly excludes Speaker and Deputy Speaker from the jurisdiction of lokayukta," Dikshit said.
The complaint against Shastri has been filed by former Secretary of Delhi legislative Assembly Siddharth Rao in which he made allegations of corruption and misuse of public funds and amenities to the tune of several crores of rupees. Shastri vehemently rejected all the allegations and claimed that Rao was trying to "blackmail" him.
lokayukta Justice Manmohan Sarin, in an order on Monday, had dismissed the complaint against the Speaker for "want of jurisdiction" but brought it to the notice of the lt Governor for "action as deemed fit" while terming the allegations as of "serious nature".
As per the lokayukta order, the complaint was forwarded to the anti-graft watchdog by Additional Secretary (Vigilance) of Delhi Government.
After addressing a press conference, Malhotra said it was peculiar for the Delhi Government to maintain that there was no substance in the complaint which it had itself forward to the lokayukta. He said BJP has moved a 'no-confidence motion' against the Speaker on Thursday.
On Dikshit's contention that the city lokayukta did not have jurisdiction to pursue the case, Malhotra said the anti-graft body itself had mentioned it in the order and that is why it referred the case to the lt Governor for proper investigation. "When Delhi Government knew that the lokayukta did not have jurisdiction to probe the matter then why did it refer the complaint to the lokayukta," the senior BJP leader asked.