Speaker says no to adjournment motion

NEW DELHI: Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar on Wednesday rejected Oppositions notices for adjournment motion over price-rise on the grounds that the government had not failed to discharge its constitutional and legal duties.

The Speaker’s ruling sparked off furore in Opposition benches, with a section rushing to the well of the House to voice their protest.

Amid all the noise, minister of state for home Ajay Maken rose to introduce the statutory resolution endorsing the imposition of President’s rule in Jharkhand, but his voice was drowned in the din.
With the Opposition unrelenting, Ms Kumar had no option but to adjourn the House for the day. Proceedings in the Rajya Sabha too had to be suspended over the same issue.

The Lok Sabha Speaker took off from where Leader of the House Pranab Mukherjee left earlier in the day. Citing observations made by Central Assembly President Vithalbhai Patel and two former Speakers, Mr Mukherjee, in his intervention on the discussion on the admissibility of the adjournment motion, welcomed a debate on the rising prices which, he said, was not a government failure and could be discussed, but not voted upon.

Unless the central government “fails to discharge its duties enjoined by the Constitution”, the matter could not be discussed under the adjournment motion, which entails voting, Mr Mukherjee told the House.

Citing rules, he argued that the issue to be discussed under the adjournment motion has “to be definite, and it must be related to the functioning of the government”.

The finance minister asserted that the decision-makers were not taking any “sadistic pleasure” from hiking fuel prices. “There are certain compulsions. I had certain compulsions. Rates of crude oil in the international market have gone up. There has not been any failure of the government,” he said.

Mr Mukherjee, at the same time, welcomed a debate on the rising prices. “All aspects of the issue will be debated with remedial measures. If Opposition members have constructive measures (to suggest) I will welcome that.”

“We will like to discuss the issue. I have no problem in having a discussion. The government welcomes that but this cannot be discussed under adjournment motion,” he added.

Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj, while kicking off the discussion, insisted that the adjournment motion notice was “cent percent according to the House rules”. “The adjournment motion that entails voting means stopping all other businesses, and discuss an issue of urgent importance that has occurred recently. The notice I have given has raised has two points... recent hikes in (the prices of) kerosene and the cooking gas,” Ms Swaraj contended.

The June 26 fuel price hike has put poor men of the country into “grave hardships”, she maintained, adding: “this needs urgent attention and calls for stalling all other business to be discussed on top priority.” She said the Opposition wants to censure the government over its ‘wrong pricing’ policies.

“This is a censure motion. This is to censure the government. The government won’t fall. But we definitely want to censure this government because they are troubling the common man,” the BJP leader said.

Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh said the Opposition was “expressing the sentiments of the people as 85-90% of the population are suffering due to rising prices.’’ JD(U) president Sharad Yadav contended that the Opposition didn’t want the government to fall.