West Bengal Assembly speaker revokes suspension of seven BJP MLAs
The Hindu
Clashes had broken out in the Assembly on March 28 between the legislators of the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) and BJP, following which the speaker suspended Mr. Adhikari and the four other MLAs
West Bengal Assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee on June 16 revoked the suspension of seven Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs, including that of Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, taking into consideration separate motions filed by two saffron camp legislators.
As the second half of the Assembly session began, the Speaker asked BJP MLA Agnimitra Paul to read out the last two lines of the motion requesting withdrawal of the suspension order against Mr. Adhikari and four other MLAs — Manoj Tigga, Narahari Mahato, Shankar Ghosh and Dipak Barman.
Mr. Paul stressed that the Leader of Opposition should not be barred from attending the proceedings.
Mr. Banerjee then consulted Parliamentary Affairs Minister Partha Chatterjee, who also spoke in favour of the suspension withdrawal.
Sikha Chatterjee, another BJP legislator, then read out the second motion in the House, seeking revocation of a similar order against MLAs Mihir Goswami and Sudip Mukhopadhyay.
The Speaker subsequently agreed to withdraw suspension of all seven MLAs.
Clashes had broken out in the Assembly on March 28 between the legislators of the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) and BJP, following which the speaker suspended Mr. Adhikari and the four other MLAs.
Several principals of government and private schools in Delhi on Tuesday said the Directorate of Education (DoE) circular from a day earlier, directing schools to conduct classes in ‘hybrid’ mode, had caused confusion regarding day-to-day operations as they did not know how many students would return to school from Wednesday and how would teachers instruct in two modes — online and in person — at once. The DoE circular on Monday had also stated that the option to “exercise online mode of education, wherever available, shall vest with the students and their guardians”. Several schoolteachers also expressed confusion regarding the DoE order. A government schoolteacher said he was unsure of how to cope with the resumption of physical classes, given that the order directing government offices to ensure that 50% of the employees work from home is still in place. On Monday, the Commission for Air Quality Management in the National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas (CAQM) had, on the orders of the Supreme Court, directed schools in Delhi-NCR to shift classes to the hybrid mode, following which the DoE had issued the circular. The court had urged the Centre’s pollution watchdog to consider restarting physical classes due to many students missing out on the mid-day meals and lacking the necessary means to attend classes online. The CAQM had, on November 20, asked schools in Delhi-NCR to shift to the online mode of teaching.