West Bengal governor questions legality of TMC MLAs’ oath, imposes Rs 500 fine on attending Assembly

West Bengal governor questions legality of TMC MLAs’ oath, imposes Rs 500 fine on attending Assembly

Sub: Polity

Sec: Parliament and state legislature

Context: CV Ananda Bose questioned Speaker Biman Banerjee administering oath to the legislators when he had authorised Deputy Speaker Asish Banerjee to do so.

Details:

• Weeks after Trinamool Congress MLAs Sayantika Banerjee and Reyat Hossain Sarkar were sworn in, West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose has questioned the legality of the process and asked the leaders to pay a fine of Rs 500 each day they take part in Assembly proceedings.
• There has been an impasse with the governor regarding the swearing-in of the newly-elected MLAs. While Bose had invited the two MLAs to take the oath at the Raj Bhavan in Kolkata, they declined and instead asked him to administer the oath to them in the Assembly or authorise Biman Banerjee to do so.
• The Assembly speaker had summoned a special session amid the impasse. Hours after the announcement of the session, Bose had authorised Deputy Speaker Asish Banerjee to administer the oath to the MLAs.
• The governor in a letter to the MLAs said that the speaker had “no jurisdiction in the matter” as the “constitutional head of the state designated someone to administer the oath”.

What does constitution say on this matter?

As per Article 188

Every member of the Legislative Assembly or the Legislative Council of a State shall, before taking his seat, make and subscribe before the Governor, or some person appointed in that behalf by him, an oath or affirmation according to the form set out for the purpose in the Third Schedule.