The Supreme Court was approached by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Raghav Chadha for tendering an unconditional apology to the Rajya Sabha Chairperson Jagdeep Dhankhar for proposing names of 5 Rajya Sabha members for a selection committee without their due consent.
The AAP leader said that he has no issues in tendering apology as he is the youngest member of the house.
The Apex court considering the case agreed that there seems no intention on part of Chadha to attack the dignity of the house, said suggested the apology should be considered on sympathetic grounds.
A bench comprising of the Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud ,Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra said in the order that he should be given a fair chance to tender apology.
The bench added that the matter will be heard after the Diwali break. The purpose for adjourning the matter post diwali is to ensure that the Court can be apprised of the matter by Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta and Attorney General R Venkataramani.
The top court said this while hearing he plea by Chadha on his suspension from the Rajya Sabha.
Chadha was suspended from the Upper House of Parliament on August 11 during the pendency of the Privileges Committee proceedings against him for allegedly not taking the consent of five Rajya Sabha members before proposing their names for a Select Committee.
Chadha has said that his suspension was a violation of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Council of States (Rajya Sabha) along withviolation of 14 and 21 of the Constitution.
The leader had contended that there are some categorical prohibition against the suspension of any member for a period exceeding the remainder of a session.
In his case he has been suspended since the last hour of the Monsoon Session of Parliament this year.
In his appeal the leader has mentioned that due to the suspension, he is unable to attend the meetings of the Standing Committee on Finance and the Committee on Subordinate Legislation, which continues work even when Parliament is not in session.
Last week, the Apex Court had, taken a critical view of the continuing suspension of Chadha.
The Apex Court mentioned that the exclusion of a member of the political opposition from the house a “serious matter”, and questioned whether the Privileges Committee could issue such an order to indefinitely suspend an MP.
The CJI Chandrachud remarked that an indefinite suspension will have ramifications on the people whose constituency is going unrepresented.
The CJI keeping in mind the statement from the previous hearing and reiterated that Dhankhar could take a view accordingly following an apology from Chadha.
The Court had said had said last time that if AAP leader is willing to tender an apology, the chairman who is a distinguished senior can take a view as how long can we keep him in suspension.
The court said that it is also aware of the dignity of the house and that along with being the Vice President he (Jagdeep Dhankhar) is the Chairperson of the House and if he (Chadha) apologises to him then the Chairman can take a view accordingly.