Judicial Review of Mahua Moitra expulsion would violate separation of powers: Lok Sabha to Supreme Court

The Lok Sabha secretariat told the Supreme Court on Monday that the plea by Trinamool Congress leader and former parliamentarian Mahua Moitra challenging her expulsion from the Lok Sabha cannot be examined by courts since Article 122 of the Constitution envisages a framework wherein the parliament is allowed to exercise its internal functions and powers without judicial intervention..The Lok Sabha secretariat stated that the decision arrived at by the parliament as a sovereign organ under the Constitution after following its internal procedure cannot be tested on the basis of doctrine of proportionality as any such exercise will be contrary to the doctrine of separation of powers which is a basic feature of the Constitution..The matter was heard by a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta which listed the case for hearing on May 6. .On December 8, 2023, the Lok Sabha had passed a resolution to expel Moitra from the parliament in the wake of a recommendation by an Ethics Committee for her disqualification as a Member of Parliament (MP).The Ethics Committee's recommendation and report followed a complaint by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Nishikant Dubey and advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai who alleged that Moitra had accepted cash in exchange for asking certain questions in parliament.Moitra was an MP representing Krishnanagar constituency in West Bengal before her expulsion.Moitra was accused of posing several queries in parliament concerning the Adani group of companies at the behest of a rival businessman, Darshan Hiranandani. Moitra was also alleged to have shared her Lok Sabha log-in credentials with Hiranandani.The TMC leader was found guilty by the Ethics Committee which held that Moitra's lapses called for "severe punishment."She was then expelled from parliament.Moitra then approached the top court against the same..The Supreme Court had in January sought the response of the Lok Sabha Secretariat to Moitra's plea.The bench had, however, refused to grant any interim relief to Moitra..The Lok Sabha secretariat has now told the top court that proceedings before the parliament (and its constituents) cannot be called into question alleging any irregularity of procedure and the House of the People is the sole judge of the lawfulness of proceedings before it..Regarding the sharing of log in ID and password by Moitra with Darshan Hiranandani, the Lok Sabha secretariat stated that accessibility to such confidential material comes with a huge responsibility to ensure its confidentiality. "Such material is likely to have a direct nexus with the security and integrity of India and therefore, it is expected that a Member of Parliament would ensure highest standard of ethics and not permit unauthorised and unwarranted access to any third person. The fact of even granting access to an unauthorised third person would be a breach of such trust and would amount to unethical conduct," the lower house informed the top court. .It further alleged that Moitra had shared the one time password (OTP) for login on 47 occasions with third parties, and the only justification that has been provided by her is that she needed “typographical” assistance to type her questions on 47 occasions from someone stationed in Dubai. "She has stated, in her evidence, before the committee that she needed secretarial assistance and hence had shared this extremely sensitive and confidential information with someone stationed abroad. Such a defense is unfathomable," the Lok Sabha secretariat contended.