The Supreme Court on Friday told TMC MP Mahua Moitra to inform the Nadia district administration a day prior to her visit there to enable them to make necessary arrangements, including for accommodation, according to protocol.
The apex court passed the order while hearing Moitra’s plea, which flagged the issue concerning a September 1 circular of the district administration which asked MPs and MLAs to give prior notice of at least three to four days before their proposed visit to enable the administration to make appropriate arrangements.
“These are not the issues which should come to the court. What is required is a small SOP (Standard operating procedure),” a bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi observed during the hearing.
In her plea, Moitra, who is an MP from Krishnanagar parliamentary constituency in West Bengal, had alleged that district administration officials in Nadia had evicted her from a Circuit House in August even though she was allotted a room at the state-owned property.
During the hearing on Friday, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the West Bengal Government, told the bench that no officer had asked Moitra to vacate the premises and all courtesies were extended to her. Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, appearing for the MP, said the September 1 circular was targeted at Moitra.
He said according to protocol, an MP ranks higher than the chief secretary. “We would like this to be ironed out. There should not be any inconvenience to anyone,” the bench said. Mehta said the September 1 circular would not be given effect to.
The bench told Sankaranarayanan that Moitra’s office should inform the district administration a day prior to her visit.
When Moitra’s counsel said allotment of rooms at the Circuit House should be according to protocol, Mehta argued that it should be subject to availability also.
“You can’t weaponise availability like this,” Sankaranarayanan said. The bench also dealt with Moitra’s submission about alleged lack of cooperation by the district administration for giving effect to MPLADS (Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme).