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Presiding officers of 4 states boycott conference

Presiding officers of legislative bodies of West Bengal, Karnataka, Orissa and Tamil Nadu today boycotted the 62nd presiding officers' conference in New Delhi when they were not allowed to raise the issue of the Centre recommending President's rule in Bihar during the morning session.

Hashim Abdul Halim, who has been speaker of the West Bengal assembly for almost two decades, told a news conference later that the presiding officers were directly affected by promulgation of Article 356 on the legislative assembly of any state.

Halim and his deputy, Anil Mukherjee, Karnataka Legislative Council Chairman D B Kalmankar, Tamil Nadu Speaker P T R Palamival Rajan, and Orissa Speaker Chintamani 'Dyan' Samantarai walked out when Lok Sabha Speaker G M C Balayogi, who was chairing the conference, said the issue did not concern presiding officers. Balayogi also said the issue was not listed in the agenda.

Halim argued that the Cabinet's decision to invoke Article 356 had come about after the conference began and so could not have been listed in the agenda, but there were precedents to show that such matters could be raised.

UNI

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