Tuesday, March 14 2006 14:18 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: The four Lok Sabha members named in the MPLADS scam today (Mar 14 2006) got a reprieve with the Parliamentary Committee, which probed it, giving them benefit of doubt and recommending that they be reprimanded and suspended till March 22 when the first leg of the ongoing Budget Session concludes.

The recommendations of the seven-member panel, chaired by V Kishore Chandra S Deo, come barely three months after the expulsion of 10 Lok Sabha members in the cash-for-query scam in the winter session of Parliament.

While maintaining that the conduct of none of the four members "was above board and they need to be handed out appropriate punishment", it gave the benefit of doubt to the four lawmakers saying the "improper conduct" on their part "did not strictly speaking relate to their parliamentary duties and none of the said members was actually shown as accepting the money."

"Alemao Churchill (Cong), Paras Nath Yadav (SP), Faggan Singh Kulaste and Ramswaroop Koli (both BJP) may be reprimanded. They may also be suspended from the membership of the House till 22 March 2006," recommended the Committee in its 51-page unanimous report tabled in the House today.

Union Govt may suitably revise guidelines

The Committee also recommended that the Union Government may suitably revise guidelines governing MPLADS with a view to plugging various loopholes and lacunae and initiate steps for "laying guidelines and norms for sting operators."

The period of abstention from sittings of the House and the Committees by all the four MPs on the directions of the Speaker "may be deemed to be their suspension from the membership of the House", it said.

While the BJP had given a note of dissent to the recommendations of the P K Bansal Committee in the cash-for-query scam, the recommendations of this panel were unanimous. BJP MPs, led by Leader of the Opposition L K Advani, had staged a walkout on December 23 in the Lok Sabha when the resolution for the expulsion of MPs was taken up, saying the punishment was "disproportionate to the crime."

"The strength of any system lies in its capacity to promptly correct aberrations which may creep in from time to time," the Deo Committee observed while expressing happiness over the firm resolve among the fraternity of legislators to take urgent remedial action whenever the situation so demands with a view to "reclaiming the pristine glory of legislative bodies in the country."

"Elected representatives of people have a sacred duty to adhere to highest norms of conduct. Every act of misconduct by them strikes at the very root of democracy and destroys its credibility. Hence, every act of misconduct or misdemeanour, notwithstanding the degree of its gravity, calls for some punitive action or corrective measure," it said.

However, the Committee noted that the "DIG team" which conducted the sting operation 'Chakravyuh' and the Star News channel "without having full and clinching evidence with respect to some members, went ahead airing the entire footage in the name of exposing dealings with regard to MPLAD Scheme as a public interest measure."

"The position taken by media persons before the Committee that they did clarify the position while airing such video footage does not carry conviction," it observed.