Belagavi: The Legislative Assembly on Tuesday unanimously upheld a resolution imposing a one-year prison sentence and a fine of Rs 10,000 on editors of two Kannada tabloids for breach of privilege and rejected their plea to condone the punishment.
Members cutting across party lines opposed the editors' plea on condoning the punishment and unanimously demanded immediate execution of the resolution passed by the House on June 21, 2017.
Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister T.B. Jayachandra moved the ‘reconsideration proposal’ and Speaker K. B. Koliwad, who had received the petition from editors to reconsider the House decision, put the matter for debate. While a majority of members demanded immediate execution of the resolution, a few members sought doubling of the punishment. Only three members appealed to the Speaker to take a right decision since the journalists had approached the High Court.
Defending the House resolution, the Speaker said there are no directions from the High Court and it (High Court) had dismissed the writ petition. The Speaker said he had brought the matter to the House since he had no power to take a decision. "I am not supreme to the House," he said, adding, "there is no clear-cut definition on privileges. If it is defined, then privileges of members of Parliament and legislature will be restricted. A large scope is given for privileges of MPs and MLAs."
On the lines of the KPME Bill, a Bill needs to be passed to regulate the media to stop blackmailing of people by journalists, said G.H. Srinivas (Congress)
On June 21, 2017, the Assembly adopted recommendations of the committee on privileges to punish Ravi Belagere of Hai Bengaluru and Anil Raj of Yelahanka Voice.
