Jamir justifies dismissal

| 03 February 2005 00:08 IST

Goa governor S C Jamir has justified his action of dismissing the Manohar Parrikar government while blaming the speaker for converting the whole proceedings of confidence motion into a farce.

A press communiqué released by Sebastian Zumvu, OSD to the governor, clarified that the governor dismissed the government as the speaker had directly violated his order and had taken up other business than the confidence vote.

According to Jamir, the House was convened on 2 February only to seek vote of confidence as the Parrikar government had reduced to minority. However, the speaker issued a notice to Philip Neri Rodrigues in connection with the disqualification petition on the same day and later physically removed him from the House, denying his right to enjoy powers and privileges as a member under Article 194 of the Constitution.

The speaker’s action in initiating disqualification proceedings against Rodrigues was clearly with an ulterior motive to reduce the numerical strength of the Congress-led United Legislature Party, stated Jamir.

The session was convened, stated Jamir, as he thought the floor test is the most democratic method when the House of 36 was divided equally into two groups. The BJP government was clearly in the minority since the speaker, whose vote was counted by the Parrikar government, would be able to cast his vote only if there was a tie.

He also alleged that the speaker conducted the vote of confidence in an arbitrary manner and was also a complete sham and a mockery of parliamentary democracy. Jamir said he was convinced that the proceedings were absolutely chaotic and was a serious blot on democracy.

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