NT Staff team www.navhindtimes.com
Panaji Feb 9, 2005: With the effective member-strength of both the Congress-combine and the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Goa Legislative assembly tied at 18-18, the question now being asked is whether the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker, both of whom are BJP MLAs, can resign their posts, force the Congress to appoint a Speaker from their party and thereby reduce them to a minority. The Speaker has no voting rights in the assembly unless there is a tie.
Some legislative experts say there is no rule to prevent either the Speaker or the Deputy Speaker from resigning the post. They say that in the event of both of them quitting, one of the members of the panel of presiding officers, comprising MLAs from both parties (which are normally formed at the inauguration of the assembly) will have to take up the Speaker�s chair.
However, these experts say that that happens only in less important and very temporary circumstances; not in serious circumstances such as a trial of strength. Besides, the members of the panel might not be willing to take up the post. It is learnt that already some Congress MLAs who were members of that panel resigned a few days back.
In the event of none of the members of the panel agreeing to preside over, the Governor will have to nominate some other MLA to preside over. But whether any of the MLAs would be willing under the present circumstances is doubtful.
Other legal experts hold the view that the resignation of Speaker and Deputy Speaker at the same time is constitutionally not permissible. The Constitution envisages no vacuum or vacancy in the post of Speaker. Under the Constitution, the Speaker has to submit his resignation to the Deputy Speaker, and the Deputy Speaker to the Speaker. So one of them has to be in the chair.
These experts say that the Speaker or the Deputy Speaker cannot address their resignation to the Governor to create a vacancy in the chair of the Speaker. However, Article 180 (2) of the Constitution states that during the absence of the Speaker from any sitting of the assembly the Deputy Speaker or, if he is also absent, such person as may be determined by the rules of procedure of the assembly, or, if no such person is present, such other person as may be determined by the assembly, shall act as Speaker.
The other game-plan of the BJP could be to reduce the Congress-combine strength by one vote so that there is a tie at 17-17, and the Speaker can give his casting vote to defeat the confidence motion. The disqualification petition filed before the Speaker against the Independent MLA and currently the Deputy Chief Minister, Mr Filipe Neri Rodrigues is a part of this game-plan.
The BJP expects that the Speaker would disqualify Mr Rodrigues, based on the documents submitted by them claiming that the Independent MLA had joined the BJP.
The Congress counter-plan to this is that Mr Rodrigues will seek a stay from the High Court on a possible disqualification. With the stay in force, Mr Rodrigues can vote.
However, in the event of the disqualification order coming just before voting, Mr Rodrigues will be left with no time to file a petition in the High Court for stay.
The third option for the BJP is to make a few Congress legislators resign their assembly seats. But the catch here is that although there is discontent among some Congress legislators over denial of berths or choice portfolios whether they will be willing to switch over their loyalty and take that risk.
The Congress counter-strategy to it is to make a few BJP members resign their seats. Their game-plan also includes working on the former tourism minister, Mr Mathany Saldanha, who does not belong to the BJP and would not invite the anti-defection law if he switches side.
The Chief Minister, Mr Pratapsingh Rane claimed a few days ago in an television interview that �at least four or five BJP MLAs are expected to resign�. If anything, his statement made the BJP more cautious and the party locked up its MLAs incommunicado.
The Congress seems to be working on the four of the 17 BJP members, who are called �neo-BJP� since they have switched over to the party from the Congress, Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party, and Goa Rajiv Congress. But how far they will succeed is open to question.
As a part of its counter move, Congress leader, Mr Jeetendra Deshprabhu urged the Governor to exercise his authority as head of legislative assembly and use his inherent powers to limit the Speaker to function within the parameters of the Constitution and law.
In a memorandum addressed to the governor, he has requested the Governor to send an additional message to the House under Article 175(2) of the Constitution.
He has also urged that the Speaker shall have the trust vote recorded by slips/ballots signed by each member and verified by each member and counted in the presence of the Governor�s representative in the House who shall be advocate-general, who may be present in the House. Mr Deshprabhu has urged the Governor to issue directions to the Speaker asking him not to exercise his powers vested under Tenth Schedule of the Constitution and take major decision as Congress legislators have filed a no-confidence motion against him and that statutory process under rules of procedure read with Article 179 and its first proviso against him have begun.
Currently, the Congress-combine breakup is as follows: Congress 15, Nationalist Congress Party-1, MGP-1, Independent-1. The BJP camp breakup is: BJP-17 and United Goans Democratic Party-1.
- Forwarded by www.goa-world.com
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