The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday raised questions about the procedure followed in recognising the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly, noting that the name proposed by the majority opposition party for the post was not taken into consideration.
High Court also questioned whether the speaker can ignore the proposal and recognise someone else as the LoP.
Justice Krishna Rao was hearing a petition filed by Sobandeb Chattopadhyay challenging Speaker Rathindranath Bose's decision to recognise the rebel MLA Ritabrata Banerjee as LoP in the state legislative assembly.
Justice Rao also asked how the Speaker should proceed when faced with two competing proposals from the same political party.
He observed that while the Speaker is expected to act on a resolution submitted by the largest opposition party, disputes arising from rival claims must be addressed in accordance with the law.
He also sought to know whether the Speaker could take such a decision on his own or was required to hear all sides before recognising the Leader of the Opposition.
Speaker's counsel Billwadal Bhattacharya argued that under the Bengal Legislative Assembly Emoluments Act, 1937, the LoP is the member recognised as the leader of the party considering the greatest numerical strength in the Assembly.
The Speaker's decision is "final and conclusive" when the question related to a dispute regarding either the party's strength or leadership arises, he said during the hearing of the case today.
The court was informed that two rebel MLAs — Ritabrata Banerjee and Sandipan Saha — had complained that signatures appearing on a resolution backing Chattopadhyay were not theirs.
The Speaker's office subsequently referred the matter to the Criminal Investigation Department under the West Bengal Police to conduct an inquiry to probe the case.
The hearing will continue on Wednesday. The political and legal battle in connection with the Assembly speaker’s decision to recognise the rebel MLA Ritabrata LoP in the House intensified on Thursday after the High Court made some significant observations on the issue.
Earlier, the High Court on Thursday had questioned whether the Speaker could recognise a LoP without taking the consent of the political party concerned.
The Trinamool Congress leadership led by the party supremo and former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, expelled Ritabrata, MLA from Uluberia Purba, and Sandipan Saha, another legislator from Entally for anti-party activities.
Veteran MLA Chattopadhyay from Ballygunj seat in Kolkata, who was selected by the party leadership as the LoP in the House, moved the High Court on 8 June, challenging the speaker’s decision to recognise Ritabrata as the LoP.
Justice Rao had also observed that the person recognised as LoP was allegedly no longer a member of the party after being expelled and questioned the legal basis for such recognition.
