Speaker Defends Decision on Leader of Opposition: 'Supreme Court Questioned the Centre, Not Me'

New Delhi: Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan today defended her decision to deny the Leader of Opposition or LoP's post to the Congress, a day after the Supreme Court expressed its concern about the post remaining vacant. (No Leader of Opposition? Please Explain, Says Supreme Court to Centre)

Her decision, said Ms Mahajan, was based on rules and tradition. She added that the apex court had made no observation against her.

"The Supreme Court has questioned the Centre on the issue of the Lokpal's appointment in the absence of the LoP and the Attorney General will inform the court about the government's stand. It has made no observation against the Speaker," she told journalists. (Speaker Rejects Congress Claim for Leader of Opposition)

She defended her decision of not according the LoP's status to the leader of the Congress party in the House, as the party lacked the requisite numbers.

"I have taken the decision after studying the rules and traditions and after taking experts' opinions on the issue. No opposition party has more than 55 seats. Till date, the rule that a party should have a minimum of 10 per cent seats in the House (for being accorded the status of LoP) has not changed," she said. ('Speaker Should Choose Leader of the Opposition': Somnath Chatterjee)

In any case, Ms Mahajan said, the Opposition does exist in the Lok Sabha and it is doing its work properly, except for the fact that there is no Leader of Opposition. (In Parliament, Nobody Wants to Sit With Congress: Sources)

The Speaker also pointed out that in 1980 and 1984, there was no Leader of Opposition in the House because no party had the required strength.

In a significant development, the Supreme Court had questioned the government yesterday about the absence of a LoP, an important component in the selection of statutory bodies.

Asking the government to make its stand clear within four weeks, a bench headed by Chief Justice RM Lodha had emphasised the importance of the post, saying the Leader of Opposition conveys a voice that is different from the one by the government. (Congress and Government Trade Barbs Over the Post of Leader of the Opposition)

The government had to put on hold the appointment of a new chief of Central Information Commission yesterday due to the absence of the LoP in the selection committee, leaving the transparency watchdog without a chief for the first time since its inception in 2005.