The 15th Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, who continued to hold the position till the appointment of Kamal Nath as the Pro term Speaker on Friday afternoon, has ended the tenure of Lok Sabha Television Chief Executive Rajiv Mishra.
A notification issued by the Lok Sabha Secretariat dated May 30 said the Speaker has `limited the tenure’ of Mr. Mishra till May 31.
While calls made to Mrs. Kumar were not returned, Mr. Mishra claimed that he has been removed as the then Speaker was not happy with the Lok Sabha TV telecasting the news of her trailing during the counting of votes polled in Sasaram Lok Sabha constituency.
“It was running on several private TV channels. We chose to run the story only after verifying from the Election Commission,” he said.
When asked if Mrs. Kumar has conveyed her displeasure on the matter, he replied in the negative.
Mr. Mishra maintained that Mrs. Kumar was also not happy over the Lok Sabha TV telecasting live the meeting of the BJP Parliamentary Party inside the Central Hall of Parliament where Narendra Modi was elected as the Leader of the BJPPP on May 20.
This was not the only one of the last orders signed by Mrs. Kumar. For instance, on May 31, she approved extension of the term of engagement of Consultant Radhey Shyam, Joint Secretary (Retd.) as Consultant on full-time basis with the designation, "Officer on Special Duty" for a period of three months with effect from June1.
Meanwhile, Former Parliamentary Affairs Minister and senior Congress leader Kamal Nath has been appointed as the Pro tem Speaker in the new Lok Sabha.
A notification issued by the Lok Sabha Secretariat said President Pranab Mukherjee has appointed him to perform the duties of the Speaker.
The Narendra Modi Government had conveyed its recommendation to Mr. Mukherjee to appoint Mr. Nath, who is the senior-most member of the Lower House, as Pro tem Speaker.
A brief session of Parliament would be held from June 4 to 11 for oath-taking of the new members as well the Address of the President to the joint session of Parliament.
After the new members take oath on June 4 and 5, the Speaker will be elected the next day. The Rajya Sabha will commence its sitting from June 9 after the joint sitting.
Senior Congress MP Kamal Nath will administer the oath to the new members. He will be assisted by a panel of Chairmen, consisting of Arjun Charan Sethi (BJD), Purno A Sangma (National People's Party) and Biren Singh Engti (Congress).
The Motion of Thanks to the President's Address will be taken up on June 10 and 11 in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, respectively. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will reply to it. If required the session could be extended by a day depending on the business.
(copy corrected for a factual error)
