Speaker turns down NDA plea for Par probe against Patil

NEW DELHI: Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee has rejected the NDA's demand to refer to Parliament's privileges or ethics committee media reports claiming that UPA-Left presidential candidate Pratibha Patil had sanctioned Rs 36 lakh to a family-run trust from her MPLAD funds as a Lok Sabha member.

A senior BJP leader said the rejection was on the grounds that privileges and ethics committees deal with cases relating to sitting MPs, which Patil is not.

The BJP, the leader said, might request the Speaker to refer the same news reports to the MPLAD committee.

In a memorandum on July 7, the NDA also referred to news reports that the Maharashtra government leased a 25,000 sq-foot plot to the Vidya Bharati Shikshan Sanstha, set up by Patil's husband Devisingh Shekhawat, this year and Amaravati authorities permitted it to build a sports complex from that amount.

"Patil's tenure as MP in Lok Sabha ended in 1996. How can unutilised funds under MPLAD be used eleven years after the expiry of her tenure as MP?" the NDA asked.

It said MPs were required to honour MPLAD scheme rules that no funding is permissible to societies and trusts if the recommending lawmakers or any of their family members are part of their managing committee.