Raipur: The move by Chhattisgarh Assembly
Speaker to cancel entry passes of reporters from Hindi daily
`Patrika` has led to a tussle between the legislature and the
judiciary in the state.
While the High Court has issued a notice to Speaker
Dharamlal Kaushik seeking his reply on the issue, the latter
has said the matter is outside the purview of the judiciary.
The root cause of the row lies in the March 23 verbal
duel between Agriculture Minister Chandrashekhar Sahu and
Congress MLA Dharamjit Singh in the Assembly. The Speaker
expunged certain unparliamentary words used by the duo and
cautioned against their publication.
However, on March 24 `Patrika`, ignoring the Speaker`s
direction, prominently published the expunged words on the
front page of the newspaper.
Miffed by this, Kaushik ordered cancellation of House
entry passes of the `Patrika` reporters and refereed the issue
to the Privileges Committee.
Rajasthan Patrika Pvt Ltd (owner of the daily) filed a
petition in the High Court at Bilaspur against the Speaker`s
ruling. The court, while issuing a notice to the Speaker,
fixed April 4 for further hearing of the matter.
The Speaker on Monday informed the House about the HC
notice. Kaushik said the legislature has been bestowed certain
powers to ensure smooth and orderly conduct of proceedings.
These powers are beyond the purview of the judiciary, he
maintained.
PTI
