Lok Sabha constitutes committee to probe misconduct charges against members

The Lok Sabha today constituted an eleven-member committee headed by V Kishore Chandra S Deo of Congress to look into the alleged charges of misconduct and misuse of Parliamentary privileges by its members.

New Delhi, May 16 : The Lok Sabha today constituted an eleven-member committee headed by V Kishore Chandra S Deo of Congress to look into the alleged charges of misconduct and misuse of Parliamentary privileges by its members.

Speaker Somnath Chatterjee in the Lok Sabha made the announcement after the decision was taken in all-party meeting on Tuesday, in the wake of the alleged involvement of some MPs in the human trafficking case.

The committee comprises Lok Sabha members-- Gurudas Dasgupta, Anant Geete, C. Kuppusami, V K Malhotra, Shrinivas Patil, Mohd Salim, Braja Kishore Tripathy, Rajesh Verma, Devendra Prasad Yadav, Pam Gopalk Yadav-- and its head S Deo.

Chatterjee also disallowed the Bharatiya Janata Party, MP Babubhai Katara accused in the human trafficking case from attending the Parliamentary proceedings.

The alleged involvement of political leaders in human trafficking came to light when Katara was arrested from Indira Gandhi International Airport while taking one Paramjeet to Canada on his wife Sarada Ben's passport.

The names of the two MPs- Ashok Kumar Rawat and Mitrasen Yadav - both of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) figured during the investigations that followed Katara's arrest.

Police had questioned four more MP's in a widening probe into an alleged immigration racket, unearthed after Katara was arrested.

Five others, including two travel agents, have since been arrested in what police suspects to be an illegal immigration racket that probably involves more legislators.

This is the third major scandal to hit the MPs in recent times. Eleven MPs found involved in the cash-for-query scandal were punished with expulsions.

ANI