Chief Whip protests Speaker’s decision

Chief whip Abdus Shahid has protested the speaker’s decision on seat arrangements for the parliament and said it equalled “dishonouring the treasury bench and leader of the house”.

Outgoing speaker Jamiruddin Sircar yesterday rejected chief whip’s proposal on seat arrangements and granted two front benches on the left of the speaker to the main opposition BNP and two other parties.

Shahid in his draft seat plan gave the BNP three out of ten seats in the front bench as the main opposition had only 30 seats in 300-seat parliament which convenes today.

“I called the speaker and sought a clarification from him on why he did it unilaterally,” Shahid told bdnews24.com on Saturday evening.

“I have done what I thought right as per the parliamentary practices and rules of procedure. If you think my decision is incorrect, the next speaker can change the arrangement,” Shahid quoted Sircar as telling him.

Sircar had earlier told bdnews24.com at his office the same thing.

Shahid said the outgoing speaker could have invited the ruling and the opposition benches to discuss the seat arrangements.

“Past speakers invited us and made seat arrangements as per the suggestions of two sides. But this outgoing speaker has set a bad example in parliamentary history by using his discretion,” an angry Shahid said.

As per the rule seven of the rules of procedure the speaker will decide the seat arrangement and he can either accept or reject the recommendations of the treasury bench.