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Jharkhand pro tem Speaker quits

Ranchi, March 12
Jharkhand Assembly pro tem Speaker Pradeep Kumar Balmuchu resigned from the post today, a day after his failure to conduct the trial of strength in the House as directed by the Supreme Court.

Balmuchu, who belongs to the Congress, yesterday refused to take up the business of motion of confidence in the Soren government, citing uproar created by UPA members, who had questioned his “competence” to conduct such a business.

Before adjourning the House, he had also cited the stand taken by Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee on the powers of the apex court to give a directive to a Legislature and said the President should make a reference to the Supreme Court for his opinion on the issue.

Normally, the senior-most member of the House is appointed a pro tem Speaker after the elections to preside over oath-taking by members and the Speaker’s election.
— PTI

SC order binding, says Speaker

New Delhi, March 12
Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, who took a dim view of the Supreme Court interim order on Jharkhand and suggested Presidential reference on it, said today that he had never stated the apex court’s order should not be implemented.

“The Supreme Court’s order is binding on everybody. I have never said the order of the court should not be implemented. Whether a review of the court’s order can be done through the Presidential reference was the option explored at the meeting of the leaders in Parliament,” Mr Chatterjee told a group of students here.

Mr Chatterjee felt that the Governor’s decision to invite JMM chief Shibu Soren to form the government was “not proper”, according to a Lok Sabha Secretariat release. — PTI