Rebel AGP leader drags Assam Speaker to court on corruption charges

Rebel AGP leader drags Assam Speaker to court on corruption charges
SAMUDRA GUPTA KASHYAP

GUWAHATI, FEB 15: Assam Legislative Assembly Speaker and veteran Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) leader Ganesh Kutum has landed in the eye of a storm with rebel AGP leader and former PWD minister Atul Bora dragging him to court on corruption charges.

Bora, who was suspended from the AGP three years ago over a reshuffle in the Mahanta ministry, filed a writ petition in the Gauhati High Court last week, alleging that Kutum had indulged in corruption with regard to renovation of the Assembly building.

The matter gained significance with the High Court admitting the writ and the Opposition Congress took full advantage of the issue by raising it in the ongoing budget session of the Assembly and demanding that the Speaker be barred from conducting the proceedings because of the writ.

Congress members had protested vehemently in the House on February 9 but Kutum had refused to entertain their plea until three Congress MLAs were evicted from the House and subsequently placed under suspension. It also led to a walkout by the Congress.

Two days later, however, Kutum announced the constitution of a seven-member committee to examine the scope and ambit of the powers of the judiciary to interfere with the functioning of the Speaker vis-a-vis the independence of the legislature under Constitutional provisions.

State Parliamentary Affairs Minister Hiten Goswami has been appointed chairman of the committee, whose other members include senior Congress legislator Prithvi Majhi, among others. It has been asked to submit its report by February 22.

Kutum said that though he had read about Atul Bora's writ petition involving him in the newspapers, but had not received any notice from the court. ``Though I have not received any notice from the court, presuming that such a rule has been issued, I would like to inform the House that there is no rule or provision whereby a Speaker is dibarred from chairing the House in the event of a rule being issued by the High Court,'' Kutum said.

He pointed out that a Speaker could be removed only under Rule 135 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Assam Legislative Assembly, which provides for a resolution for the removal of the Speaker.

Kutum further said that he gad constituted the committee since the matter involved a complicated question of law and propriety, viz, whether the High Court could issue a rule against a Speaker who enjoyed the confidence of the House, and whether a Speaker was under obligation to vacate the chair in such a situation.

In his writ petition, Bora has alleged that Kutum had misappropriated a huge sum of money in the name of renovation of the Assam Assembly building. Bora, suspended after he revolted against Mahanta and refused to be shifted from the Public Works Department to the Forest Department, has formed a new group called Trinamool Gana Parishad (TGP) along with former speaker Pulakesh Barua. The group is trying to tie up with the BJP.