K Chandrasekhar Rao says Speaker is supreme, even courts cannot interfere in his decisions

Hyderabad: Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao told TRS legislators on Sunday that the office of the Speaker in a Parliamentary democracy was supreme and even courts were not supposed to interfere in the affairs of the legislature.

In an obvious reference to the petitions pending with the Telangana Assembly Speaker seeking disqualification of memberships of several MLAs who had joined the TRS, the Chief Minister told a gathering of party legislators at the orientation camp at Nagarjunasagar that the Speaker enjoyed the powers inherited to him by the House and as such the decisions and actions cannot even be questioned by the courts.

“When to take a decision and what decision to take is the exclusive domain of the Speaker, time alone will decide everything, we should leave the matter to the Speaker,” Mr Rao said during a talk on “Parliamentary Democracy-Legislature” by Assembly secretary Dr S. Raja Sadaram.

He suggested that each MLA should take up a study on subjects he or she was interested in and become a master in it so that debates and decisions in Legislature would ensure quality and credibility.

The Chief Minister cited an example of the present Governor of Maharashtra Ch. Vidyasagar Rao. When  he was an Opposition MLA in the AP Legislature, he had brought a criminal law amendment private Bill to consider bigamy cases as cognisable and non-bailable offences. It was welcomed by all parties and the House adopted it.

The Chief Minister specifically asked legislators to concentrate on rules and procedures of the House, Budget discussions and its implementation, especially in their constituencies. Mr Rao also assured to provide Secretarial assistance and a centre at the TRS office in the Assembly for the members to avail of its services.