RS chairman refers complaints against Derek O'Brien, Raghav Chadha to privileges committee

Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar has referred complaints related to the privilege of the House against TMC's Derek O'Brien and AAP's Raghav Chadha to the privileges committee for further examination.

The Rajya Sabha secretariat said the complaint against O'Brien was filed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members Laxmikant Bajpayee and Surendra Singh Nagar, while that against Chadha was filed by Sushil Kumar Modi and Deepak Prakash.

"On consideration of the facts, the Hon'ble Chairman, Rajya Sabha has referred the matter under Rule 203 of Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Council of States (Rajya Sabha) to the Committee of Privileges for examination, investigation and report," according to a bulletin issued by the Rajya Sabha secretariat late on Thursday night.

The notice under Rule 188 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Council of States (Rajya Sabha) against O'Brien was filed for repeated publishing of the clippings of his statement made in the House on July 20 through his verified personal Twitter handle, despite the fact that those were expunged by the chairman.

"He allegedly amplified the expunged statements through a series of tweets posted continually on a daily basis over a week and allegedly insulted the dignity of the Council and authority of the Chair," the complaint said.

The complaint against Chadha dated July 25 alleges "intentional and deliberate act of presenting misleading facts to the media" on July 24 with respect to the suspension of "Sanjay Singh, Member, from the service of the Council for the remaining period of the 260th (Monsoon) session of Rajya Sabha for his indecorous behaviour and repeated violation of directions of the Chair".

"The members have also alleged that the comments made by Shri Raghav Chadha, Hon'ble Member, during the interview, wherein, he had inter-alia reportedly stated that Shri Sanjay Singh, Hon'ble Member, would continue to sit inside the Chamber despite being suspended from the service of the Council violates the provisions contained under Rule 256 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Council of States (Rajya Sabha) and are an affront to the authority of the Chair and an act of breach of privilege," the notice said.

Another notice of alleged breach of privilege jointly submitted by Dr K Laxman and S Phangnon Konyak against Chadha refers to a news coverage by a private television channel and alleges that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader has grossly misrepresented the proceedings of the House.

The chairman has referred this matter to the privileges committee too, the bulletin said.