NEW DELHI: Lok Sabha secretariat on Monday asserted that
Parliament
had exclusive jurisdiction over its
internal functioning
and
procedures
and was not answerable to judiciary as it justified the
expulsion
of
TMC
's
Mahua Moitra
for sharing her exclusive LS member portal access login and one-time-password (OTP) 47 times with Dubai-based businessman Darshan Hiranandani, which was unethical and could potentially risk national security.
In a firm response,
LS secretariat
invoked Article 122 of the Constitution and said, "As such, proceedings of Parliament (and its constituents) cannot be called into question alleging any irregularity of procedure and the House of the People is the sole judge of the lawfulness of proceedings before it... right to be elected to Parliament and right to continue as such is not traceable to any of the fundamental rights. Hence, Moitra's petition under Article 32 of the Constitution is not maintainable."
Citing a 1961 ruling by an eight-judge bench of SC, LS secretariat said power, privileges and immunities conferred under Articles 105 and 194 would not be void on occasion of their repugnancy with fundamental rights or other provisions of the Constitution - a response which may appear to be a pushback of sorts against the backdrop of a few orders pointing to judiciary's inclination to extend its oversight to matters which have traditionally belonged to the realm of legislatures.
It said Moitra's petition seeking to enforce the "fundamental rights" of a member of the House in respect of internal proceedings conducted by the House and the member's expulsion was beyond the scope of
judicial review
.
In response to Moitra's plea challenging validity of her expulsion, the secretariat in an affidavit said during proceedings before the ethics committee of LS, she had in an affidavit admitted giving Hiranandani access to LS portal for uploading questions on her behalf, claiming she did so because she needed typographical assistance.
"Ministry of electronics and information technology found that the said portal was accessed using Moitra's login credentials from Dubai on 47 occasions from the same IP address 94.200.247.138," the secretariat said, adding that the alleged quid pro quo between Moitra and Hiranandani was under investigation.
In what could further rile Moitra, the secretariat said, "The ethics committee has found prima facie evidence of a quid pro quo (though not necessary for taking action) between Hiranandani and Moitra, which has been referred to govt authorities for investigation."
On her contention that she was not permitted to cross-examine complainant BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai and Hiranandani, it said denial of cross-examination became inconsequential once she had admitted sharing her login password and OTP with Hiranandani.
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