Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee Friday rejected notices of privilege against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on leakage of the Pathak Inquiry Authority report but said he expects government to investigate how this happened and take action.
"I hold that no breach of privilege or contempt of the House has been occasioned by the leakage of the contents of the report. I, therefore, disallow the notices of question of privilege," the Speaker ruled.
The privilege notices were given by Bharatiya Janata Party deputy leader V K Malhotra and party colleagues Sontosh Gangwar and B C Khanduri, Braja Kishore Tripathy (Biju Janata Dal), Prabhunath Singh and George Fernandes (both Janata Dal-United), Sukhdev Singh Libra, Shiromani Akali Dal, and Mohan Singh of Samajwadi Party.
The Speaker ruled that giving premature publicity to any matter connected with the business of the House was not breach of privilege and contempt, "though in some cases, it may amount to an act of impropriety".
"It has been held that no privilege of Parliament is involved if statement on any matter of public interest is not first made in the House and is made outside," he contended. "Such actions are against conventions and propriety but do not constitute any basis on which breach of privilege can be founded," he said.
The BJP-led Opposition had stalled proceedings earlier this week over the leakage issue and moved notices of breach of privilege against the prime minister. In his report submitted to prime minister on August 3 and later tabled in Parliament by, Justice R S Pathak indicted former External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh for playing a role in influencing and facilitating procurement of oil contracts in Iraq.
The Speaker said "I expect the government will duly investigate as to how the leakage took place. Of course, it is for the government to take action but I expect that such steps will be taken." Chatterjee recalled that when members raised the leakage issue on August 4, he had expressed resentment on such publication and also desired that the government should enquire into the matter.
Mohan Singh's notice is also directed against the editor of Rashtriya Sahara newspaper for carrying a news report in this regard, the Speaker said. Another privilege notice was given by M Jagannath, TDP. The Speaker said the Pathak report was to be treated as confidential and not to be published before it was laid on the table of both Houses of Parliament.
The Speaker cited a ruling by late G V Mavalankar, Speaker of the first Lok Sabha, on the issue of leakage of report of the Bank Award Commission before it was laid on the table of the House. Mavlankar had ruled that leakage of the report did not constitute any breach of privilege.
On March 19, 1956, Chatterjee recalled that a question of breach of privilege was raised on leakage of budget proposals. The then Speaker while holding that there was no breach of privilege referred to two well-known cases of the House of Common -- Thomas case and Dalton case where similar verdicts were given.
He also referred to a question of privilege on leakage of the Railway Budget in February, 1982 and the then Speaker had also held that leakage of budget did not constitute breach of privilege. "It has been consistently held in several cases in India as well as in the House of Commons that a document which is in the custody of the government before it is presented to the House is treated as an official secret and, therefore, the leakage of the same does not constitute a breach of privilege of the House," he said. The Speaker said his decision was based on the ruling of his predecessors and the "well-established position".
