Speaker okays tearoom brawl debate
House Speaker Barendra Sinanan ruled yesterday that the sub judice rule does not apply to debate on the report of the Privileges Committee arising out of the tea room incident, and therefore the motion to adopt the report can be debated. He acknowledged that Fyzabad Member of Parliament (MP) Chandresh Sharma and Caroni East MP Ganga Singh, "are concerned that the debate in this House and its publication, if any, will influence Appeal Court judges in the civil appeal and also a magistrate sitting alone to hear the criminal complaint." Both Sharma and Singh wrote Sinanan last week, asking him to delay debate on the report until the cases currently before the courts are resolved. Singh cited the sub judice rule as well as several conventions practiced by the United Kingdom Parliament. During the sitting, the Speaker asserted that he needed more time to peruse the arguments, and postponed the debate on the report which was carded for that sitting. In explaining his rationale for the decision, Sinanan concluded, "I am not satisfied that their (Sharma and Singh’s) concerns are valid in this instance. They do not point to any real and substantial danger of prejudice."
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"Speaker okays tearoom brawl debate"