New Parliament building should be inaugurated by President not PM: PIL in Supreme Court

The plea comes a day after a total of 20 opposition parties, including the Congress, have decided to boycott the new Parliament building's inauguration, demanding that the President and not PM Modi do the ceremony.

PM Modi is scheduled to inaugurate the new Parliament building on May 28. (Photo: https://centralvista.gov.in/)

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Amidst the row over the inauguration of the new Parliament building, an advocate has approached the Supreme Court with a PIL seeking direction that it be inaugurated by President Draupadi Murmu and not Prime Minister Narendra Modi as is scheduled.

The Public Interest Litigation by C R Jaya Sukin said the May 19 statement by the Lok Sabha Secretariat regarding the inauguration of the new building by PM Modi on May 28 and the invites sent out by the Lok Sabha Secretary General for this were without due application of mind.

The petitioner cited Article 79 of the Constitution which says that there shall be a Parliament for the Union which shall consist of the President and two Houses to be known respectively as the Council of States and the House of the People.

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Pointing out that the President possesses the power to summon and prorogue Parliament or dissolve the Lok Sabha, he argued that the President should not, therefore, be kept away from the inauguration of the new Parliament building.

The plea comes at a time when 19 Opposition parties have decided to boycott the inaugural ceremony, saying it must be the President who should inaugurate it and not PM Modi.

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