BSP MP Danish Ali writes to LS Speaker to remove adverse remarks in Ethics Committee report

New Delhi: BSP MP Danish Ali on Saturday shot off a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla asking him to remove adverse remarks against him in a report of the Ethics Committee recommending the expulsion of Trinamool Congress lawmaker Mahua Moitra, saying it was beyond the jurisdiction of the panel.

The Ethics Committee in its report, adopted on November 9 and scheduled to be tabled in the Lok Sabha on Monday, had suggested that Ali should be “admonished” for “twisting/moulding” the intent of a question put forth by panel head Vinod Sonkar to Moitra during the November 2 hearing with the “objective of fomenting sentiments of public at large as well as disparaging the self esteem of the chairperson and other members.”

Ali is one of the 15 members of the Ethics Committee and had submitted a dissent note against the committee's recommendation to expel Mahua Moitra in the 'cash for query' complaint against her.

In his letter, Ali said that the Ethics Committee report contains "some shocking and completely unwarranted facts" about him.

"I would like to draw your kind attention to the fact that there is a full paragraph in the report which is purportedly referring to my conduct during the meetings of the said Committee. As a matter of fact and in law that it is completely beyond the jurisdiction of the Hon’ble Chairman of the Committee to have inserted that offending paragraph," Ali wrote.

As per the rules, he said the Committee can examine every complaint related to unethical conduct of an MP referred to it by the Speaker and make such recommendations as it may deem fit and the panel head is bound to examine the issue referred to it and after prima facie examining the issue recommend the same for a detailed examination, only if the facts so warrant.

"The Chairman of the committee is not empowered to mention in a committee report about any individual member or his conduct or the opinion expressed by the member/members in the committee meeting. In the view of the above rules, the paragraph mentioning me must be deleted by your kind directions before the report is presented in the house," he said.