Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Raghav Chadha on Friday told the Supreme Court that he would tender an unconditional apology to Rajya Sabha Chairperson Jagdeep Dhankhar for not taking the consent of five Rajya Sabha members before proposing their names for a Select Committee.
The AAP leader was indefinitely suspended from Parliament on August 11 over allegations of not seeking permission from some MPs before deciding to include them in a proposed select committee.
Accordingly, bearing in mind that Chadha had no intention to attack the dignity of the house, the Supreme Court suggested the apology being considered sympathetically in the background of facts and circumstances of the case, Bar and Bench reported.
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The CJI noted that the AAP MP is a first-time parliamentarian and is also the youngest member.
“It has been submitted that Raghav Chadha is the youngest member of the august house. Bearing in mind that he had no intention to attack the dignity of the house, it is assured that Raghav Chadha shall meet the chairperson and tender an unconditional apology which shall be considered sympathetically in the background of facts and circumstances of the house,” a bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra said in the order.
The matter will be heard after the Diwali break so that the Court can be apprised of the matter by Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta and Attorney General R Venkataramani.
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Raghav Chadha has argued that his suspension was in clear violation of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Council of States (Rajya Sabha) as well as Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution.
He contended that there exists a categorical prohibition against the suspension of any member for a period exceeding the remainder of a session. He has been suspended since the last hour of the Monsoon Session of Parliament this year.
The Supreme Court had, during the last hearing in October, taken a critical view of the continuing suspension of Chadha.
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It had called the exclusion of a member of the political opposition from the house a “serious matter”, and questioned whether the Privileges Committee could issue such an order to indefinitely suspend an MP.
CJI Chandrachud had remarked that such an indefinite suspension will have ramifications on the people whose constituency is going unrepresented, Bar and Bench reported.
