Communist Party of India (Marxist) MP moves privilege notice against Arun Jaitley and Dharmendra Pradhan, ministers in the NDA Government

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPM] on Friday moved a notice of privilege against Finance minister Arun Jaitley and Petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan for increasing the excise duty on petrol and diesel when a statutory motion against the earlier notification to hike the excise duty on petrol and diesel is pending with the Upper House, where the NDA Government is in a minority at present.

The notice of privilege has been moved by CPM MP K.N. Balagopal in the Rajya Sabha of which he is a member.

File Picture: TV grab of K.N. Balagopal speaking in the Rajya Sabha

“This increase was done arbitrarily at a time when the notice for statutory motion to disallow the earlier notification to increase excise duty of the petrol and diesel, is pending before the Rajya Sabha,” K.N Balagopal said in the notice sent to Rajya Sabha chairman Hamid Ansari, a day after the government raised excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs. 2 per litre.

Balagopal alleged that both Jaitley and Pradhan took the decision “bypassing” the Parliament. He said the notice for amending the earlier notification was given by him and his party leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sitaram Yechury and it was accepted by the Chairman and is included in the list of business.

“The Business advisory committee has allotted time for the discussion. But due to the negative attitude of the government, the statutory motion was not discussed in the last session. Now it is pending before the House. Since such an important motion is pending before the house for discussion and finalisation, it is the responsibility of the government to respect the Parliamentary practices and procedures,” the notice said.

“They (Jaitley and Pradhan) negated the Parliamentary privileges and etiquettes. Hence I feel this as a grave case of breach of parliamentary privilege, which affected me the personally and the Rajya Sabha, in general,” Balagopal said, seeking necessary action to protect the privilege of members.

The third excise duty hike since November was done to help raise an additional amount of Rs. 6,000 crore during the remaining three months of the current fiscal as the government took advantage of a slump in global oil prices to five-year low to shore up revenue without stoking inflation. Balagopal said when the international price of crude has been decreased from $115 per barrel to $55 per barrel, the government is increasing the “real price” of petroleum products.

“If the government passes over the international price of petroleum to Indian consumers, it would be less than Rs. 40 per litre of petrol and diesel,” he said.

If admitted by the Rajya Sabha Chairman Mr. Hamid Ansari , the notice will go to the Privileges Committee of the Rajya Sabha, headed by Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien. The ruling NDA has just two members in the 10-member Privileges Committee, which will take a decision on the notice and report its decision to the Upper House.