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Congress may go anywhere for LOP post, will go by the rules of 10 percent: Ravi Shankar Prasad

By FnF Correspondent | PUBLISHED: 09, Jul 2014, 12:37 pm IST | UPDATED: 09, Jul 2014, 13:25 pm IST

Congress may go anywhere for LOP post, will go by the rules of 10 percent: Ravi Shankar Prasad New Delhi: Interacting with women journalists at the Indian Women's Press Corps, Law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Tuesday said there is no grey area on the issue of Leader of Opposition. He said the law is very clear on the issue for 60 years and if the Congress wants to go to court it is free to try that option.

"The decision will entirely be that of the Speaker, she has the sole jurisdiction on LoP. Congress is free to go to courts," the law minister said during the interaction with reporters at the IWPC.

Prasad said between 1971 and 1977 there was no leader of Opposition and again between 1980 and 1989 there was no one appointed to this position. "In the last 60 years this has been the rule that you have to have 10% strength of the house to qualify for a LoP position," Prasad said, adding that any change in this well established rule has to be justified.

It was earlier reported that the 16th Lok Sabha will have no leader of the opposition as Speaker Sumitra Mahajan is believed to have decided to strictly go by the rule book which will make no party eligible for the status in the Lower House.

As per rules, any party needs to bag at least 10% of the total seats for its leader to claim the status of the leader of the opposition. Though having the largest contingent among the opposition, Congress with 44 members falls short of the requirement.

Sources said the Speaker, a seasoned parliamentarian, has decided not to use any discretion to tweak the rulebook and stick to the letters of the law.

"As far as going to courts, Congress can go anywhere. It would be better if the party introspected how they got 44 seats, it would serve them better," Prasad said.

On the apex court judgment that sharia courts have no legal authority and if that gave the government reason to push its agenda on uniform civil code, the minister said it will come with a structured response on the issue in due course.

He said there are many judicial and legislative reforms on which the government has been proactive and has even asked the Law Commission to consult stakeholders and give its findings. He denied any conflict with the higher judiciary.

"The government has highest regard for the judiciary," he said, explaining how during the JP movement and the emergency, the entire leadership of the present government had fought for the independence of the judiciary and it will uphold this now.

On the issue of recognition of online media by the government of India, Minister incharge of IT, was totally non committal. Answering concerns over the accreditation of the new age media, Ravi Shankar Prasad said the government will look into it. 

The truth of the matter is that the government of India has no concrete policy on online media yet. Since last 4 years it is running on a pilot project that is extended every 3 months. In sharp contrast to the policy for print and electronic medium the rules for online accrediation are discriminatory and unreasonably demanding. It is a case of policy paralysis of the previous govt which this govt is fearing to tread on.
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