MP Assembly adjourned sine die amid ruckus

House was adjourned six days before budget session was to end

Uproar over the Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board (MPPEB) scam in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly forced the Speaker to adjourn the House sine die six days ahead of the schedule.

Opposition Congress created ruckus in the House after speaker Sitasharan Sharma dismissed a breach of privilege notice moved by Congress legislator Ramniwas Rawat on Monday.

Rawat had sought status on breach of privilege notice against chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and BJP's state president during the Zero Hour on Monday. The speaker had told him that he would come up with his ruling on Tuesday.

Rawat had pointed out in his notice that the book published by the BJP government had used material which was the property of the state Assembly apart from using logo of the MP Professional Examination Board (Vyapam), which was a clear violation of the Copyright Act.

The chief minister had also participated in the function organized to release the book, which was contempt of the House on his part, Rawat had said.

Soon after the Question Hour ended today, the Speaker, in his ruling, clarified that no assembly record was used in the book as content. Some documents had already been presented before the High Court and others had been obtained through Right to Information Act. As regards to the function organized to release the book, it was not the part of the state Assembly. The notice does not fall under the purview of breach of privilege, the Speaker pointed out.

Following the ruling, Congress members created din in the assembly. Amid the bedlam, the speaker transacted the listed business and cleared important bills through voice vote. He later adjourned the House sine-die. The Budget session had begun on June 30.