Date:05/09/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/09/05/stories/2008090553441500.htm

National

“Only President can prorogue Parliament”

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee’s office on Thursday clarified that the power to prorogue Parliament is the sole jurisdiction of the President.

The clarification was issued in response to a news report in The Hindu titled ‘Strategic ties with the U.S. will take India Pakistan’s way: Karat’ in which Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Prakash Karat was quoted as saying that Mr. Chatterjee had not prorogued the brief trust vote session.

“Since the reported comments of Mr. Karat are misleading vis-À-vis the Speaker’s power in so far as proroguing the Session of Parliament is concerned, we wish to make it clear that the prorogation of the Parliament Session has no role whatsoever in this regard,” the Speaker’s office said in a statement.