DNA: Mumbai: Tuesday,
March 18, 2014.
The police in
Maharashtra are required to seek the permission of the Speaker of the state
legislative assembly before prosecuting a member of the legislative assembly
(MLA) for an offence.
According to
information available from the state legislature secretariat, in the past decade,
neither the Maharashtra police nor the Mumbai police have applied for
permission from the Speaker to prosecute an MLA. This was stated by the
Speaker's office in response to an RTI query by activist Anil Galgali.
Umesh Shinde,
desk officer at the Maharashtra legislature secretariat, wrote to Galgali
saying that no permission for prosecution was sought during the period.
The activist
had also sought information on this matter from the Maharashtra police as well
as the Mumbai police.
The ACP
(coordination) of the Mumbai police said the query had been referred to the
Maharashtra legislature secretariat.
Replying to
the query on behalf of the Maharashtra police, the public information officer
DD Phadke stated that they had no records on the information sought.
This
information is significant in the context of a survey by a non-government
organisation that 146 MLAs in Maharashtra and 26 members of parliament (MPs)
elected from the state have criminal records.
Some time
ago, the media reported, that then Mumbai police commissioner Satyapal Singh
had announced that the Mumbai police had sought permission from the Speaker to
prosecute Kripashankar Singh, MLA and former minister of state for home, in a
disproportionate assets case.
However, it
is clear from the reply Galgali received from the legislature secretariat that
no such permission has been sought from the Speaker.
.JPG)
.JPG)
