SHILLONG, Sep 14: Many a time, people have misconceptions about legislators and parliamentarians going beyond the ambit of their powers to summon people. In a bid to clear such doubts, the Commissioner and Secretary of the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly, Dr. Andrew Simons, has released a book titled Parliamentary Privileges & Breach of Privilege.
The book was released by Speaker Metbah Lyngdoh, Deputy Speaker TD Shira and Chairman of Committee of Privileges Saleng A Sangma, at the Assembly Annexe Hall, on Tuesday.
Simons later informed that the book tries to bring relevant provisions on privilege which MLAs and MPs are given to summon not only government officials but even people from the public domain.
The book also has details about notifications and guidelines of the Government of India and Government of Meghalaya for government officials in dealing with MLAs. Some privilege cases and privilege proceedings mentioned in the book date right from 1973 when Professor RS Lyngdoh was the Speaker.
Simons had compiled the book mostly during the pandemic and says that he came up with ideas from House debates.
