Supreme Court questions suspension of Raghav Chadha from Rajya Sabha, says exclusion of opposition member serious

The Supreme Court on Monday took a critical view of the continuing suspension of Member of Parliament (MP) Raghav Chadha from Rajya Sabha and called the exclusion of a member of the political opposition from the house a "serious matter" [Raghav Chadha v. Rajya Sabha Secretariat and Ors]..The Court also questioned whether the Privileges Committee could issue such an order to indefinitely suspend a member of parliament (MP).."Such kind of indefinite suspension will have ramifications on the people whose constituency is going unrepresented? Where is the power of the privilege committee to indefinitely suspend the member?" the Court orally remarked..A bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud with Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra was dealing with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader's plea challenging his indefinite suspension from the Rajya Sabha. The Court will hear the matter next on Friday. It asked Chadha's counsel and the Attorney General (AG) for India N Venkataramani to submit their respective notes on the issue..Chadha was suspended from the Upper House of Parliament on August 11 during the pendency of the Privileges Committee proceedings against him for allegedly not taking the consent of five Rajya Sabha members before proposing their names for a Select Committee..During the hearing today, CJI Chandrachud observed that such an indefinite suspension will have ramifications on the people whose constituency is going unrepresented. He added that the exclusion of a member of the political opposition from the House was a serious matter."A Member who should have verified the consent of the other members to be part of select committee but is this a breach of privilege? Exclusion of member of the opposition from the House is a serious matter. He is representative of a voice that is different than the ruling party and this is an important concern for the constitutional court. Indefinite suspension is a cause of concern and 75 days have gone!" the CJI said..CJI Chandrachud further observed that the Court would ask whether Chadha was ready to apologise for his actions and whether the Rajya Sabha chairperson wanted to accept such an apology. "If not, we will set the law straight and we will set the law straight, Attorney", the CJI added. Senior Advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, representing Chadha, said the MP respects Rajya Sabha and that he had apologised earlier too and was now doing it again..The Court, meanwhile, questioned the proportionality of the action taken against Chadha. "A person who disrupts the House is suspended from the session of the house and then this person is suspended for not taking consent before adding names of members to Select Committee. There needs to be some proportionality," it said. .When the CJI asked whether the chairperson of the Rajya Sabha wants to reconsider his position or whether the top court should "set the law straight", AG Venkataramani replied, "I cannot ask the chairperson that. I am only assisting the court."The top court said that it may not go into the question of privilege as the question was not raised before it. Let the Privileges Committee take a call on that, the Court added. However, the Court made it clear that it would look into the issue of indefinite suspension."Please have the joint compilation sent to us by Thursday 5 at pm. We will hear on Friday then. We will also hear on the extent of interference and that this is not a final punishment but a pro tem one," it said. .Chadha has argued that his suspension was in clear violation of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Council of States (Rajya Sabha) as well as Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution.He contended that there exists a categorical prohibition against the suspension of any member for a period exceeding the remainder of a session. He has been suspended since the last hour of the Monsoon Session of Parliament this year.Due to the suspension, Chadha has said that he is not able to attend the meetings of the Standing Committee on Finance and the Committee on Subordinate Legislation, which continues work even when Parliament is not in session. Alleging that a “vocal member” of the opposition was selectively targeted, Chadha also argued that “illegal and arbitrary” attempts were being made to dispossess him of his official accommodation in Pandara Road.It “leaves no manner of doubt” that every attempt is being made to silence him which goes to the very root of the effective functioning of a democracy, Chadha's plea added.