Rajya Sabha Chairman and Vice-President M Hamid Ansari has urged Delhi legislative Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel to initiate privilege proceedings against leader of the Opposition in Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta for allegedly casting aspersions on the members of Rajya Sabha and calling for abolition of the Upper House in an article published in a newspaper.
Ansari has sent a letter in this regard to the Speaker following Janata Dal (United) MP KC Tyagi’s notice of question of privilege against Gupta — one of the three BJP MlAs in the 70-member Delhi Assembly — to the Rajya Sabha.
In his letter, Ansari has observed that on perusing the documents on record, the matter seems to involve prima facie a question of privilege. “I am accordingly referring this matter to you in terms of the procedure mentioned above, for further necessary action,” Ansari added.
Citing procedures laid down by the Committees of Privileges of the lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha in the report of their joint sitting in 1954, Ansari has asked the Speaker to initiate further necessary action against the leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly.
As per the procedure, one House cannot claim or exercise any authority over a Member of the other House in cases where a Member of one House is alleged to have committed a breach of privilege of the other House.
When a question of breach of privilege is raised in any House in which a member, officer or servant of the other House is involved, the Presiding Officer shall refer the case to the Presiding Officer of the other House, unless on hearing the member who raises the question or pursuing any document where the complaint is based on a document, he is satisfied that no breach of privilege has been committed or the matter is too trivial to be taken notice of, in which case he may disallow the motion for breach of privilege.
Upon the case being so referred, the Presiding Officer of the other House shall deal with the matter in the same way as if it were a case of breach of privilege of that House or of a member thereof. The Presiding Officer shall thereafter communicate to the Presiding Officer of the House where the question of privilege was originally raised a report about the enquiry, if any, and the action taken on the reference.