The Speaker of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly is of the view that the editors of the two tabloids “should surrender and undergo some punishment” before the Assembly reconsiders its resolution of imposing one-year prison sentence on them. This was related to the Karnataka High Court by the counsel of the Speaker on Friday.
Additional Advocate-General A.S. Ponnanna, representing the Speaker, said he spoke to Speaker K.B. Koliwad and the latter has stated that he can only forward the plea of the editors, if any, to the Assembly when it is reconvened, and at present the editors have no choice but to surrender by showing respect to the unanimous resolution passed by the Assembly and its members.
Mr. Koliwad was one of the two legislators, who had lodged a complaint against Ravi Belagere for breach of privilege before the then Speaker of the Assembly in 2015 and the complaint was referred to the Committee of Privileges, which had recommended imprisonment.
The Speaker will explore the possibility of showing leniency to the editors by convening a session of the legislature for reconsidering the resolution “if the petitioners surrender” and submit a plea for showing leniency, the AAG said during the hearing in the morning session in response to the court’s suggestion on Thursday for resolving the issue.
However, Shankarappa, counsel for the editors, said the petitioners are ready to appear before the Speaker if there is an assurance that they would not be arrested. He also said the editors are already facing criminal cases before the jurisdictional court based on complaint of defamation lodged by the legislators.
Meanwhile, the court said that Mr. Belagere would be asked to appear before the Speaker and tender an unconditional apology for not responding to the series of notices issued to him by the Committee of Privileges.
As the petitioners have not been arrested till now, the same situation should be continued till the House re-examines the resolution. The court also noted that the privileges of the legislators are “not codified”.
The court then adjourned hearing till 4.30 p.m. asking the AAG to talk to the Speaker on finding an amicable solution so that the petitioners are not arrested till the Assembly or the Committee of Privileges reconsiders the issue, or any other workable solution. When the court resumed hearing, the AAG told the court that the Speaker has again reiterated that the editors have to surrender without any pre-condition, and said he could not speak to the Chief Minister and the Chairman of the committee. Following this, the court adjourned further hearing to Saturday by giving another opportunity for resolving the issue nd said it would hear the petition on merit if no workable resolution was found.
