Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee may have been expelled by his party, CPI(M), but his tenure as an MP, or for that matter, as the presiding officer of the Lower House remains unaffected, say constitutional and legal experts.
Defending the decision to expel Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee from the party, CPI-M General Secretary Prakash Karat on Thursday said they did not have any other option but to take disciplinary action against the veteran Marxist as he refused to quit the post after a party directive.
The expulsion of Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee from the Communist Party of India-Marxist for defying the party diktat to step down ends on a bitter note the political journey of a man who was the Marxist outfit's most articulate face with liberal views in Parliament for nearly four decades.
Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee is hurt over how the Election Commission played a "very, very dubious role" after then President A P J Abdul Kalam referred the Office of Profit issue to it acting on advice that was "not correct".
Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee on Wednesday welcomed the Supreme Court verdict upholding the right of Parliament to expel members for misconduct.
Setting an example to highlight the importance of rainwater harvesting, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee on Thursday decided to offer Parliament House premises and his official residence for water conservation purposes.
Top leaders of the alliance met at Vajpayee's residence in the morning and decided to extend the boycott to the entire session.
Dr Singh on Wednesday said Lalu would not be asked to resign "for now".
NDA on Wednesday boycotted Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee's all-party meeting aimed at defusing the stalemate over the Opposition demand to dismiss Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav.
Chatterjee had convened an all-party meeting last week at the end of which he had even suggested that a Presidential reference be made to the Supreme Court for opinion on its order.
He was admitted on Tuesday following a mild viral fever.
Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee on Wednesday said discussions were on between Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat and top political leaders to operationalise the scheme.
The Rs 3 crore project is expected to be completed within 15 months by Independence Day next year.
Strict guidelines to check the wastage of taxpayers' money on 'study tours' undertaken by the members of parliamentary committees will soon come into place.
Chatterjee hit out at MPs for speaking out of turn and refusing to do their job. He also criticised MPs for not respecting the authority of the Chair. The Speaker was particularly dismayed at the comments of Shiv Sena MP Anant Gite, which Chatterjee felt were 'intended to divide the country'.
Rao had quit the UPA ministry last month.
Rao has called off his strike after a request from the Lok Sabha Speaker.
Monday was the 3rd anniversary of the terrorist attack on the apex seat of Indian democracy.
Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee Friday rejected notices of privilege against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on leakage of the Pathak Inquiry Authority report but said he expects government to investigate how this happened and take action.
In a letter to Chatterjee, Vajpayee endorsed the NDA's plans not to attend Lok Sabha for a day as a mark of protest against the speaker.
The adjournment comes as no surprise as Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party had on Sunday hinting at going ballistic on the Centre's silence about the events in the area.
There were 85 sittings in 2005 and 77 sittings in 2006, and this year, till the completion of 11th session there were 49 sittings held so far. "We may be the largest democracy in the world but the total number of working days of Parliament session has been gradually coming down over the years," said Bharatiya Janata Party member of Parliament Vijay Kumar.
Somnath Chatterjee brings the House in order when agitated RJD members demand action against JD-U leader Prabhunath Singh.
The National Democratic Alliance on Tuesday evening agreed to end the boycott of parliamentary committees.
Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee and other passengers onboard a Jet Airways flight had a narrow escape on Sunday when their plane had to abort landing and take a 'go-around' after the pilot spotted another aircraft on the runway.The Southern China Airlines was on the ground and was taxiing for take off on runway 29. The aircraft came onto the runway due to some apparent communication gap.
The NDA leaders also took strong exception to the Speaker informing the media about the tape recordings of the proceedings he sent to Advani on the "behaviour" of the opposition MPs in the House.
Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee on Tuesday appeared lukewarm to the speculations on bringing him back to the Communist Party of India-Marxist, saying that he would not appeal to the party.
BJP spokesman V K Malhotra said they would not allow any discussion in the Lok Sabha until the 'tainted' ministers step down.
Chatterjee is suffering from cold, cough and chest congestion.
Lok Sabha members of Parliament named in a television channel expose about corruption in MP Local Area Development scheme have filed their replies to the inquiry committee, set up by Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee.
Chatterjee said it was a matter of shame that this had happened while an inquiry was already on to look into the bribe-for-questions scandal.
Don't attend House, Speaker tells MPs caught taking bribe
Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee has passed the buck to the House Privilege Committee to wriggle out of the tricky issue of two petitions by the rival groups of Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, seeking disqualification of each other's MPs for defying whip on the trust vote on July 22.
Both Houses paid tributes to former President K R Narayanan and condoled the deaths of a sitting Lok Sabha member and former members of both Houses.
Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, concerned over the development, has already said that the issue could come up at the meeting of leaders convened by him on April 25 on the eve of the re-convening of the second phase of Budget session.
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