Mr Borobabu Singh, Speaker of the Manipur Assembly, is too clever. He says that he cannot separate his person as the presiding officer of the Assembly from his other person as the head of the Assembly Secretariat. Understandably, he would not use the word ‘role’ for ‘person’.
He is aware that a person can play more than one role but if he were regarded as a person only, the roles get merged inextricably into his person and a person as such is not divisible without detriment to his status as a live human being entitled to the right to live.
He should have thought that his critics might not care for such quibbling and expose it for what it is –indulging in a word jugglery to confuse people and distract their attention from the real issue –the right of the Supreme Court vis-a-vis that of the Speaker.
Hence he points to one singular fact. It is that the Assembly has asked him not to heed the Court’s order. If he heeded the Court’s order, he could be hauled up for contempt of the House. If he did not, he would have to face the wrath of the Court.
Thus he has sought to project the impression that, unless someone could tell him how to get over this dilemma, he had no option but to continue doing what he is doing –treating Court orders as a cushion to sit upon with impunity
Perhaps he is afraid all the time. Else, he would not have spoken of the risks in leaving Manipur and presenting himself before the Supreme Court. He would pretend not to listen if the Centre said that it could provide him safe escort.
The case arose out of the contempt proceedings in the Supreme Court over his flouting of the Court’s interim orders asking him to pay to the former Secretary of the Assembly the arrears of pay and salary due to him. He was asked to appear before the Court.
The Court also said that, after filling his affidavit, he could request the Court to dispense with his personal appearance at the subsequent hearings. But, after first agreeing to do so he retracted and provoked an unseemly tussle between him and the Court.
The Court has clearly stated that there is no immunity under the Constitution to a Speaker in regard to answerability to a Court as the relevant Article 361 protects only the President and the Governors in this area. But the Manipur Speaker would not listen.
And he sports the excuse that he has already complied with the earlier orders of the Court in the matter of payment of arrears and salary to the Assembly Secretary. That is an extenuating circumstance but does not eliminate his guilt of Contempt of court.
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