Phone courtesy no more a question of ‘privilege’ for MLAs

If you think officials in Punjab are just being more courteous,figures of the Privileges Committee prove the credit lies elsewhere. Of the 18 questions of privilege raised by the MLAs during the 13th Vidhan Sabha (2007 onwards),as many as seven related to misbehaviour over telephone. And all seven were dropped by the committee deeming matters telephonic more as matters of propriety and courtesy than privilege of house members. Three out of the seven came from MLA,now Cabinet minister,Capt Balbir Singh Bath,against district transport officer and civil surgeon of Gurdaspur and later against transport officer of Jalandhar.

It took 30 meetings of the committee in 2007,30 in 2008,25 in 2009 and a higher 31 in 2010 to decide 18 issues related to breach of privilege of its members,reveals information obtained under the Right to Information (RTI) Act. The ‘uphill’ task even took three of its members – BJP MLA Surjit Kumar Jyani and Congress MLAs Naresh Kumar and Surjit Singh Dhiman – to Shimla for holding two meetings,back-to-back,on October 23 and 24 in 2007.

But despite the action,only three of the 18 questions of privilege raised from 2007 to 2010 invited action. The first and most quick being the issue relating to tampering of proceedings of the house during previous assembly. On the question of privilege against tampering,a probe by a committee of the House into a land scam was ordered and its report when tabled in the House,led to the ouster of Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh from the Assembly where he returned after two years following a favourable Supreme Court verdict.

The other two where the Privileges Committee recommended action was against a station house officer (SHO) for using unparliamentary language against MLA Darshan Singh Barar and direction to Punjab Chief Secretary not to post an officer on public hearing seat following question discourtesy shown to MLA Sarbjit Singh Makkar when he went to see him in office.

Others who ‘misbehaved’ were more fortunate. These include officers from police to administrative wings – from station house officers (SHOs) to civil surgeons – and in last year’s two cases,MLAs themselves. Questions of privilege were raised against both Punjab Congress President Capt Amarinder Singh and leader of Opposition in the House,Rajinder Kaur Bhattal,by ruling party members for making insulting remarks against Speaker Nirmal Singh Kahlon. But as a generous gesture,the two were also “let off” by the committee with warning.

When it comes to privilege,it is not just the Speaker who had to seek redress from the Privileges panel. Deputy Speaker,Satpal Gosain,was the first to raise the issue of privilege in this Assembly against High Court officials for trespassing in his official bungalow and pasting a possession letter on it. Gosain yet again was a complainant in 2010 when he lodged a question of privilege against a doctor of Ludhiana Civil Hospital for using insulting remarks. Though HC officials escaped action,the doctor’s breach is under consideration of the panel.