Vijendra Gupta faces heat over remarks on Rajya Sabha

Vice-president and Rajya Sabha chairman M. Hamid Ansari has written to Delhi Legislative Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel to initiate privilege proceedings against Leader of the Opposition in the Vidhan Sabha Vijendra Gupta for allegedly casting aspersions on members of the Rajya Sabha and calling for abolition of the Upper House in an article published in a newspaper. Mr Gupta is one of the three BJP MLAs in the 70-member Delhi Assembly.

Mr Ansari’s letter came against the backdrop of Janata Dal (United) member K.C. Tyagi’s notice of question of privilege against Mr Gupta for allegedly casting aspersions on members of the Rajya Sabha and calling for abolition of the Upper House in the news article.

“On perusing the documents on record, the matter seems to prima facie involve a question of privilege. I am accordingly referring this matter to you in terms of the procedure mentioned above, for further necessary action,” Mr Ansari said in his letter to the Delhi Assembly Speaker.

Mr Ansari said in view of the well-settled principle that one House cannot claim or exercise any authority over a member of the other House, the Committees of Privileges of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha in the report of their joint sitting in 1954 have laid down the procedures to be followed in cases where a member of one House is alleged to have committed a breach of privilege of the other House.

The vice-president said: “When a question of breach of privilege is raised in any House in which a member, officer or servant of the other House is involved, the presiding officer shall refer the case to the presiding officer of the other House, unless on hearing the member who raises the question or pursuing any document where the complaint is based on a document, he is satisfied that no breach of privilege has been committed or the matter is too trivial to be taken notice of, in which case he may disallow the motion for breach of privilege.”

Mr Ansari said: “Upon the case being so referred, the presiding officer of the other House shall deal with the matter in the same way as if it were a case of breach of privilege of that House or of a member thereof. The presiding officer shall thereafter communicate to the presiding officer of the House where the question of privilege was originally raised a report about the enquiry, if any, and the action taken on the reference.”