Close X
Wednesday, November 13, 2024
ADVT 
India

SC questions government on lack of opposition leader

Darpan News Desk IANS, 22 Aug, 2014 11:02 AM
    The Supreme Court Friday questioned the central government over the issue of appointing a leader of opposition in Lok Sabha, and said it will give a larger interpretation to the concept of the opposition leader if the government failed to resolve the issue.
     
    Days after Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan ruled that the Congress won't get the status of the opposition, Chief Justice R.M. Lodha, Justice Kurian Joseph and Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman underlined the importance of the post.
     
    The leader of opposition conveys the voice of the people different from that of the government, said the court, raising questions regarding the absence of a recognized opposition leader in the lower house of parliament.
     
    Mahajan announced that the Congress won't be recognized as the main opposition party as it won only 44 seats, less than 10 percent of the 543 members who get elected.
     
    The judges said they will examine the provision in the Lokpal law that mandates the presence of the leader of the opposition in the selection committee as there is no recognized opposition leader in the Lok Sabha.
     
    The court said the leader of the opposition was an important component in the functioning of parliament.
     
    After the apex court's ruling, the Congress party reiterated its demand that it should be recognised as the principal opposition party in the Lok Sabha.
     
    "The Supreme Court has taken an important step. The government should reconsider its stand and ask the Lok Sabha speaker to relook into it," said party leader Manish Tewari.
     
    The government, however, maintained that the Congress did not qualify for the post.
     
    Home Minister Rajnath Singh said: "As per the constitution, a party must get 10 percent seats (for leader of opposition status).
     
    "But unfortunately it did not happen. So, they should accept it," he said.
     
    BJP spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi added that this was not the first time the position of the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha is unoccupied.
     
    "This is the 8th time... It has happened seven times before," she said.A
     
    The apex court meanwhile said the leader of the opposition was of consequence not just in the context of the selection of Lokpal but also vis-a-vis the National Human Rights Commission and the Central Vigilance Commission.
     
    The court asked Attorney General Mukul Rohatagi to clarify two points: how the government wishes to make the Lokpal Act workable and, two, how to move forward if there is no recognized opposition leader.
     
    Chief Justice Lodha said that if government failed to resolve the issue, the court may give a larger interpretation to the term so that it may include the leader of the largest party in the opposition.
     
    The court said this in the course of hearing a PIL by NGO Common Cause, which has challenged the search committee procedure for Lokpal.
     
    Under the existing provision, anyone desirous of being selected as chairman or a member of Lokpal has to make an application to the department of personnel and training. It is this procedure that has come under fire from sections of people and activists.

    MORE India ARTICLES

    Let's create a 'skill India', not 'scam India', says Modi; wants all aboard

    Let's create a 'skill India', not 'scam India', says Modi; wants all aboard
    Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Wednesday his government will work for the poor, improve the lot of the weaker sections including Muslims, curb price rise, take all political parties along in its march to progress and seek to change India's identity from "scam India" to "skill India" .

    Let's create a 'skill India', not 'scam India', says Modi; wants all aboard

    How Punjab's Paddy Straw Burning is Impacting Climate and Health

    How Punjab's Paddy Straw Burning is Impacting Climate and Health
    A study by an international team using satellite and ground-based instruments has shown that crop residue burning, a common practice in northern India and particularly in Punjab, is contributing to atmospheric pollution over the entire Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP) that may have climate and health implications.

    How Punjab's Paddy Straw Burning is Impacting Climate and Health

    Centre will study Gujarat's housing model

    Centre will study Gujarat's housing model
    The BJP-led NDA government, which has affordable housing for all as one of its objectives, will study the Gujarat model of housing for poor, Union Minister of Housing and Poverty Alleviation M. Venkaiah Naidu said here Tuesday.

    Centre will study Gujarat's housing model

    Delhi Police studies Surat's CCTV system

    Delhi Police studies Surat's CCTV system
    A Delhi Police team Tuesday went to Surat in Gujarat to study the CCTV cameras installed there in the public-private partnership (PPP) model.

    Delhi Police studies Surat's CCTV system

    Dehradun shootout: Life imprisonment for 17 policemen

    Dehradun shootout: Life imprisonment for 17 policemen
    A Delhi court Monday awarded life imprisonment to 17 of the 18 policemen convicted of killing a 22-year-old MBA student in a fake shootout in Dehradun in 2009.

    Dehradun shootout: Life imprisonment for 17 policemen

    Five bodies found in Himachal river, 21 still missing

    Five bodies found in Himachal river, 21 still missing
    The bodies of five engineering students were retrieved Monday from the Beas river in Himachal Pradesh's Mandi district while a search is on for 21 others who were washed away. A court described it as "consequence of utter and callous negligence".

    Five bodies found in Himachal river, 21 still missing