Chair has the discretion to expunge or restore remarks: Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla

On Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury’s suspension, he says Privileges Committee is looking into it.

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla. File | Photo Credit: PTI

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Tuesday said the presiding officer had the powers to expunge or restore remarks of any member as per the rules and procedures of the House.

Mr. Birla was responding to a question about different yardsticks being applied for different MPs. He was speaking at a press conference on the sidelines of a regional conference of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) at Udaipur in Rajasthan.

The Speaker was asked why certain remarks by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi were expunged during the recent no-confidence debate in the Lok Sabha while the same words used by Union Minister Smriti Irani were retained, and why BJP member Nishikant Dubey’s allegations against a news portal were first expunged and then restored.

“The person in the chair has the right to expunge or restore remarks as per procedure,” Mr. Birla said in response to the question on restoration of Mr. Dubey’s remarks in the Lok Sabha records.

Asked about Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who was suspended for using certain words for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Speaker said the matter was being examined by the Privileges Committee of the Lok Sabha.

“The Committee will take a decision and make a recommendation to the Speaker,” he said.

The Congress leader is expected to meet the panel on August 30.

Briefing the media on the outcomes of the regional conference on CPA, Mr. Birla said that the conference decided to reorganise the CPA India Region Zones into nine new zones, from the existing six, for better communication and coordination among legislative bodies.

He also urged the presiding officers to implement One Nation, One Legislative Platform for all legislative records to be on one platform and urged the presiding officers to ensure that rules are made at the earliest after passage of laws so that implementation would be quicker.

“Law makers must take the responsibility to educate people on laws passed in legislatures because public awareness of laws is key to its effective implementation,” he said.