Directorate of Information & Publicity 
DIRECTORATE OF INFORMATION AND PUBLICITY
GOVERNMENT OF DELHI
Dated : 23/1/2016
- Delhi Assembly Speaker says there should be a Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha
- Mr Ram Nivas Goel gives the example of Delhi Assembly where the opposition party has merely 5% strength, but has been given LoP
- Mr Goel says every Vidhan Sabha in the country should have its own TV channel on the lines of Lok Sabha & Rajya Sabha TV
- It is the right of State Assemblies to have TV channels and I&B ministry pre-conditions need to be scrapped
- Speaker says role of governors/LGs need to be clearly defined.
Mr Ram Niwas Goel, Speaker of Legislative Assembly of National Capital Territory of Delhi has called for the Presiding Officers to be more accommodative for more productive and meaningful functioning of Legislature.
Taking part in the discussion on “Changing Public Perception of Legislatures: The Role of Legislators in strengthening public faith in democratic institutions“ in the 78th Conference of Presiding Officers of Legislative Bodies in India, being held at Gandhinagar, Mr Goel made three specific suggestions to advance the cause.
While highlighting the fact that the opposition plays a key role in functioning of the Legislature, Mr Goel called upon his colleagues to facilitate functioning of opposition. He gave the example of Delhi Assembly, where the leader of opposition party, which doesn’t even account for 5% of the total strength of the House, was given the status of Leader of Opposition.
He pointed out that he did not choose to apply non existent 10 % rule which was invoked earlier in the 16th Lok Sabha, to deny the position to BJP in Delhi. He also emphasised on the need for better connect between the people and the Legislative Bodies. He informed the Conference that the Assembly of Delhi has applied for licence to start an independent television channel to be totally owned and run by the Assembly.
He appealed to the Speaker of Lok Sabha that as the head of POs Conference she initiates measures to secure a mechanism wherein every legislature which applies for licence automatically gets it as a matter of right.
Since the proposed channels will be in the lines of LSTV and RSTV, there should not be any problem in granting the licence, he said.
He also sought the help of Speaker, Lok Sabha in getting necessary clearances from the centre in making legislatures paperless through e-vidhan project for which Delhi Assembly is one of the applicants.
The third point that he had made is in connection with the developments in Arunachal Pradesh where the Governor’s role amounted to encroachment into rights of the Legislature that were guaranteed under Constitution.
Recalling that Sarkaria Commission had proposed consultation with Chief Minister of the State, Vice-President of India and Speaker, Lok Sabha, he appealed that there has to be a fair mechanism to appoint Governors to avoid subversion of Constitution by Governors as is witnessed in Arunachal Pradesh. Mr Ram Nivas Goel also endorsed the views expressed by Speaker of West Bengal Assembly and Chairman of Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council who were critical of encroachment of judiciary into the arena earmarked exclusively for Legislature.
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