West Bengal Assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee on Friday administered oath to two newly elected Trinamool Congress MLAs, stepping over the Governor's order to appoint Deputy Speaker Asish Banerjee for the task.
The incident has led to the Raj Bhavan raising accusations of constitutional impropriety on the Speaker's part.
Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose sent a report to President Droupadi Murmu, alleging that the Speaker's actions violated the constitutional norms.
Bose asserted that the Bengal Speaker administering oath to the MLAs at the state Assembly was unconstitutional, an official from the Raj Bhavan said.
Notably, the special one-day session of the state Assembly was adjourned sine die after the legislators took oath.
The swearing in of the two TMC legislators -- Rayat Hossain Sarkar from Murshidabad's Bhagwangola and Sayantika Bandopadhyay from Kolkata's northern outskirts' Baranagar -- ended the month-long deadlock between the assembly and the Raj Bhavan over the ceremony's venue.
Taking his earlier stance back, where the Governor said that the oath will be administered at the Raj Bhavan, Bose on Thursday authorised Deputy Speaker Asish Banerjee to administer the oath to the MLAs in the assembly.
WHAT HAPPENED IN THE ASSEMBLY?
However on Friday, Asish declined from administering oath, saying that it would be inappropriate to do so when the Speaker is present in the Assembly.
"It is against the norms for the Deputy Speaker to administer the oath when the Speaker is present in the Chair. It would disrespect the Speaker's position," he said in the assembly.
Following Asish's stance, Speaker Biman Banerjee called the MLAs to the floor and administered the oath. TMC leaders in the House chanted 'Jai Bangla' slogans to celebrate the swearing in of the MLAs.
Defending his actions, Asish said, "I followed the rules of the assembly. According to Rule 5 of the assembly proceedings, if the Speaker is present, I cannot administer the oath."
Later, Raj Bhavan posted on social media that a report was being sent to the President over the said incident.
"The constitutional transgression has been done in spite of Hon’ble Governor appointing Deputy Speaker as the person before whom the two newly elected MLAs shall make and subscribe an oath or affirmation," a statement from Raj Bhavan read.
Countering the reference of Rule 5 of the assembly proceedings made by the Speaker and his deputy, the Raj Bhavan said whether any of it could be above the constitutional provisions.
"It is elementary knowledge that the Constitution supersedes any assembly rule," it said.
Speaker Biman, in response to Governor Bose's letter, said, "The Governor does not have the authority to dismiss me. I have already informed the President about the situation and sought her intervention."
Previously, the Speaker had sought President Murmu's intervention in the matter, accusing Bose of turning the official affairs into an ego battle.
Meanwhile, state Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay insisted that no House rules were violated.
"Rule 5 of the Assembly proceedings was followed. The Governor appointed the deputy speaker, who then recused himself citing Rule 5, as administering the oath in the Speaker's presence would have been disrespectful," he said.
Citing that there was no advance notice, the BJP legislative party of the state did not attend the one-day special session.
The Two TMC MLAs had been staging a sit-in on the Assembly premises, protesting against the Governor's previous stance. They were demanding to be sworn in by the Speaker in the assembly, as per the conventions of the House.
"We are very pleased to have been sworn in within the assembly. Due to the delay in our oath-taking, we were unable to serve our constituencies as MLAs," said Bandopadhyay.
Notably, the West Bengal Governor and the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC government has been at logger heads since the time Bose assumed office in November 22.
(With PTI inputs)
