New Delhi: Aparajita Sarangi, BJP MP from Bhubaneshwar, will head the 31-member joint parliamentary committee (JPC) set up to examine the three key laws that provide for the removal of prime minister, chief ministers and Union and state ministers on arrest or detention for serious criminal offences that draw punishment of five years in jail or more.
The Lok Sabha secretariat Wednesday notified the constitution of the committee, where a majority of the 31 MPs are from the NDA. Most opposition parties had decided to boycott the parliamentary panel.
While Congress, the principal opposition party and other key opposition parties including Trinamool Congress have refused to be a part of the committee, some of the non-INDIA bloc members including the Biju Janata Dal and Bharat Rashtra Samithi have also stayed away.
Leaders of just four opposition parties—Nationalist Congress Party’s Supriya Sule and Sunil Dattatreya Tatkare, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen’s Asaduddin Owaisi, Shiromani Akali Dal’s Harsimrat Kaur Badal, and YSRCP’s S. Niranjan Reddy—are part of the joint committee.
Among the NDA, while 15 including Ravi Shankar Prasad, Brijmohan Aggarwal, Pradan Baruah, Vishnu Dayal Ram, D.K. Aruna, Parshottambhai Rupala, Brij Lal are from the BJP, all the allies also have representation in the committee.
These include Devesh Kumar Thakur from Janata Dal (United), Lavu Sri Krishna Devarayalu from Telugu Desam Party, Dhairyasheel Sambhajirao Mane from Shiv Sena, Balashowry Vallabhaneni from Janasena Party, CVe Shanmugan from AIADMK, Indra Hang Subba from Sikkim Krantikari Morcha, M. Mallesh Babu, Janata Dal (Secular), Joyanta Basumatary, United Peoples Party, Liberal, Rajesh Verma, Lok Jan Shakti Party (Ram Vilas) and Birendra Prasad Baishya, Asom Gana Parishad.
The proposed bills were tabled in the Lok Sabha during the monsoon session of the Parliament in August. The bill mandates that if the PM or CMs of a state, Union or state/UT ministers are arrested and kept in custody for 30 consecutive days, they will have to resign on the 31st day or will be automatically removed.
Currently there is no provision under the Constitution for removal of a PM, CM, or Union or state/UT ministers, who are arrested and detained in custody on account of serious criminal charges.
The law provides only for removal of public representatives who have been convicted.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)