Congress MLA Dalal serves legal notice on Haryana assembly Speaker

Congress MLA from Palwal, Karan Singh Dalal, suspended on September 11 from the sitting of the state assembly for a year has served a legal notice on Haryana assembly Speaker Kanwar Pal, seeking immediate withdrawal of the “illegal and malafide” order passed by the latter. The notice said that Congress MLA will initiate legal proceedings against the Speaker in the high court if the order was not withdrawn.

Dalal was suspended for a year during the recent assembly session after he allegedly used unparliamentary expressions in the assembly.

The legal notice to the Speaker served by Dalal’s counsel Vikram Jain said Dalal’s suspension was against the Rules and Procedure and Conduct of Business in Haryana legislative assembly.

Speaker Kanwar Pal did not respond to calls and text messages sent by HT in this regard.

“It is a settled proposition of law that orders passed against the rules were not sustainable in the eyes of the law. As per rule 104-B (2) of the Rules and Procedure and Conduct of Business in Haryana legislative assembly, no member can be suspended from the service of the House for a period more than the remainder of the session,” the notice read.

It further said that even otherwise the procedure adopted by the Speaker and the fact that Dalal was not provided adequate opportunity to provide an explanation to the House is not part of the parliamentary system. As per the parliamentary system, if any member makes a statement and the same is objected to by other members, the member making such statement shall receive adequate opportunity to clarify his statement.

Citing Supreme Court rulings, the counsel for the suspended MLA said the Speaker exceeded the powers vested in him by the Constitution and state legislature.

The counsel for the MLA said that Dalal on September 18 sent a communication to the Secretary, Haryana Vidhan Sabha, requesting for documents with the regard to his suspension. He had also sought the provisions and rules under which he was suspended. However, till date no reply has been received from the Secretary.

First Published: Oct 09, 2018 12:32 IST