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NEW DELHI: Members of a parliamentary committee on Wednesday debated whether opposition parties, which have refused joining their panel formed to study a bill aimed at “decriminalisation” of politics, should be invited to offer their views on the proposed law and if the leader of opposition can be removed from office under its provisions.Law Commission of India chairperson Dinesh Maheshwari was among the key figures who shared their views with the Joint Committee of Parliament scrutinising the Constitution (130th Amendment) Bill and two related bills, which seek removal from office of PM, CMs and ministers if they are under arrest for 30 days and more on serious criminal charges.A BJP MP, sources said, flagged a scenario when the governing party refuses to name the replacement for PM and CMs in case they are removed from office due to their detention and said amendments should be made to plug this loophole to rule out such a possibility that can cripple governance, especially in times of crisis in the country or a state.If such a case arises, then the president of the country or the governor of a state should be legally empowered to use their discretion if a replacement of the arrested head of govt is not forthcoming, he suggested.Congress and most other opposition parties have refused to join the committee, which is headed by BJP’s Aparajita Sarangi, as they have slammed the bill as unconstitutional and politically motivated.The committee has only two MPs from the opposition among its members-Supriya Sule of NCP(SP) and AIMIM’s Asaduddin Owaisi. When one of them suggested that opposition parties should be invited to offer their views on the bill, several MPs questioned the proposal noting that they had ignored repeated suggestions by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to join the panel. Some members also wondered if the leader of opposition can be removed from office under the bill’s provisions. Though the two LoPs in Parliament, and LoPs in state assemblies enjoy certain govt protocols, they are not considered part of the executive and are not covered under the current provisions of the bill. Sources said Maheshwari and Hyderabad-based National Academy of Legal Studies and Research’s VC Sri Krishna Deva Rao agreed with the idea behind the bill’s aim for decriminalisation of politics amid several suggestions made by them and committee’s members.
