Hours after suspending 14 MPs, LS Secretariat revokes suspension of SR Prathiban

New Delhi, Dec 14 (IANS) The Lok Sabha Secretariat on Thursday said that a total of 13 MPs have been suspended from the Lok Sabha and the suspension of DMK MP SR Prathiban has been revoked after he was mistakenly suspended.

In an official order, the Lok Sabha Secretariat said: “Suspension of Members from the service of the House under Rule 374. Hibi Eden, T.N. Prathapan, Ramya Haridas, Dean Kuriakose, S. Jothimani, V.K. Sreekandan, Benny Behanan, Mohammad Jawed, P.R. Natarajan, Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, K. Subbarayan, S. Venkatesan and Manickam Tagore B., MPs have been suspended from the service of the House on motions moved by the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs and adopted by the House, for the remainder of the Session beginning December 14, 2023,” it said.

It also said that as per Rule 374 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha and ‘note XXIII’ of the Manual on Business and Procedure, when a member is suspended from the service of the House, they cannot enter Chamber, Lobby and Galleries, they stand suspended from sittings of Parliamentary Committees of which they may be a member, no item is put down in the List of Business in their name, no notice tabled by them is acceptable during the period of their suspension.

It also said that they cannot vote at elections to Committees held during the period of their suspension, and they are not entitled to daily allowance for the period of suspension, if suspended from the service of the House for remainder of Session, as their stay at place of duty cannot be regarded as ‘residence on duty’ under section 2(d) of Salary.

Among the suspended MPs, nine are from Congress, one from DMK, two from CPI-M and one from CPI.

Earlier in the day, 14 Lok Sabha MPs were suspended including Parthiban.

Taking a swipe at the government, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said: “What happened yesterday in the Lok Sabha was deeply worrying. What happened today in the Lok Sabha is totally bizarre.”

Pointing out the suspension of Parthiban, Ramesh said: “An MP from Tamil Nadu who was not even present in the House and was in fact out of New Delhi got suspended for disrupting proceedings! Meanwhile, the BJP MP who facilitated the intruders faces zero consequences.”

–IANS

aks/pgh