"Expulsion is extremely serious punishment": Adhir Ranjan writes to Lok Sabha Speaker on cash-for-query case against Mahua Moitra

New Delhi [India], December 2 : Congress leader and the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has written a letter to Speaker Om Birla on the report of the Lok Sabha Ethics Committee, reportedly recommending the expulsion of Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra in a "cash-for-query" case saying that it would be an "extremely serious punishment and has very wide ramifications".
The Ethics Committee, which probed the 'cash-for-query' allegations against Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, will lay its report in Lok Sabha on the first day of the Winter Session of Parliament on December 4.
In the letter issued on Saturday, Adhir Ranjan said that as per the records, prior to Mahua's case, the Ethics Committee of Lok Sabha has dealt with a miniscule number of cases that mainly pertaining to purported acts of deviation from the general norms of conduct with the punitive action recommended being confined to-- admonition, reprimand and suspension from the sittings of the House for a specified period.
Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who is also chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, said the views expressed by him are in his personal capacity.
"If the media reports on the recommendations of the Ethics Committee on choosing to recommend expelling Ms. Mohua Moitra from Parliament are right, it would, perhaps be the first such recommendation of the Ethics Committee of Lok Sabha. Expulsion from Parliament, you will agree Sir, is an extremely serious punishment and has very wide ramifications," he said.
The Winter Session of Parliament begins on Monday and is scheduled to continue till December 22.
The listed agenda of Lok Sabha for December 4 mentions that Ethics Committee chairperson Vinod Kumar Sonkar and member of the Committee Aparjita Sarangi will be laying "on the Table the First Report (Hindi and English versions) of the Committee on Ethics".
Lok Sabha Ethics Committee had last month submitted its draft report connection with the 'cash-for-query' case to Speaker Om Birla. Sources said the committee had recommended the expulsion of Moitra.
The report was adopted with a 6:4 majority. Six members of the panel voted in favour of the report, including Congress MP Preneet Kaur who had earlier been suspended from the party. Four members of the panel belonging to Opposition parties submitted dissent notes.
The Ethics Committee, which investigated the allegations made by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, had on November 9 adopted its 500-page report recommending Moitra's expulsion from the 17th Lok Sabha in view of her "highly objectionable, unethical, heinous and criminal conduct".
In the letter, the Congress MP expressed his hope for 'justice' and said that he is looking for Birla's intervention into the matter.
"I am sure that under your leadership and control, no in-justice will be done, and the processes relating to the functioning of Parliament and conduct of the Business of the House is smoothened for the benefit of all Members of the House.
He also urged the Speaker to have the entire processes relating to the jurisdiction and procedures to be followed, examined and such remedial measures, as needed, taken towards streamlining the functioning.
"I urge upon you to ensure that Members do not become susceptible and find themselves on the "wrong side", the entire protocols relating to the functioning of the Official Portal of Lok Sabha will have to be looked into and reviewed," he added.
The leader also alleged that the Chairman of the panel, Vinod Sonkar and BJP MP Nishikant Dubey were "openly parading their views and passing judgments" even while the matter was under investigation and formulation of the findings and framing the report was underway.
"The proceedings of the Sittings of the Committee are strictly confidential with the rule being all the more relevant for strict adherence in case of a Committee investigating a very serious as well as extremely sensitive matter. Yet, the Chairman of the Ethics Committee, as well as the Complainant Member, were openly parading their views and passing judgments even while the matter was under investigation and formulation of the findings and framing the report was underway," the letter reads.
Notably, Nishikant Dubey had written to the Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla against Moitra, accusing her of asking questions in Lok Sabha to target the Adani Group at the behest of businessman Darshan Hiranandani in exchange for gifts.
He claimed that Advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai had provided him with proof of alleged bribes. The BJP MP and Dehadrai had appeared before the Lok Sabha Ethics Committee.
He further questioned why the businessman chose to turn against the member despite his interests apparently being served by way of posing questions by using the Log-in credentials.
"The Dubai based Businessman who purportedly had access to the "log-in credentials" of the Member, Mahua Moitra to the Lok Sabha Portal and was placing Questions on her behalf was, as per reports, possibly not called by the Committee for deposing. It is also not clearly known as to why the Businessman chose to turn against the Member despite his interests apparently being served by way of posing questions by using the Log in credentials," he asked.