The state legislature administration said that there was no need to get prior permission to arrest legislator Chhagan Bhujbal, even as Opposition Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) members claimed in bo
The state legislature administration said that there was no need to get prior permission to arrest legislator Chhagan Bhujbal, even as Opposition Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) members claimed in both the Houses that the enforcement directorate (ED) should have taken permission of the state legislature before arresting him.
There is no legislative rule that mandates investigating agencies must inform the legislature before arresting a sitting member, the legislature department said. Opposition NCP members in both Houses of the state legislature strongly contended that the investigating agency ought to have given prior intimation to the secretariat about its decision to arrest the now incarcerated leader.
They argued that Bhujbal was cooperating with the agency and hence there was no need of his immediate arrest. However, legislature secretary Anant Kalse said that there is no such legislative rule that mandates the investigating agency must inform the secretariat about the impending arrest of any sitting member of the House. Investigating agencies, however, after the arrest of any member for any offence have to inform the legislature about the same.
He added that agencies, however, cannot enter the legislature premises to arrest any member. Mr Kalse further said that on a previous occasion Peoples Republican Party (PRP) MLC Jogendra Kawade was arrested by the investigating agencies after he came out of the legislature premises. When asked about the arrest of any member leading to disqualification of the member, Mr Kalse clarified that if a member was convicted by any court of law for not less than two years, his membership stands terminated.
However, it must be noted here that Bhujbal has been only arrested in the money laundering matter in the Maharashtra Sadan case. The ED arrested him under Section 19(1) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.
In the past, prominent legislators who have been convicted include Pappu Kalani (Ulhasnagar, RPI-A), Babanrao Gholap (Deolali, Shiv Sena), Suresh Jain (Jalgaon, Shiv Sena), Suresh Halvankar (Ichalkaranji, BJP) and Sudhir Parve (Umred, BJP).
