Naidu asks RS members to respect legal provisions

New Delhi, Mar 19 () Rajya Sabha Chairman M VenkaiahNaidu on Thursday asked members of the upper house not toavoid appearing before probe agencies when summoned as it wastheir duty to respect the law and legal provisions.

Naidu made this suo motu announcement soon after the endof the Zero Hour at noon, urging members not to cite houseduty as a pretext to avoid summons by law enforcementagencies.

RS member and Essel Group promoter Subhash Chandrarecently did not appear before the Enforcement Directorate(ED) stating that he was occupied with the ongoing Parliamentsession, among other reasons.

Chandra was summoned by the Enforcement Directorate inconnection with a money-laundering probe against Yes Bankpromoter Rana Kapoor and others.

Without taking any name, Naidu told members, "I wouldlike to make a mention that no member of the House shouldavoid appearing before any investigating agency when she or heis called upon to do so by citing the reason of House duty".

"As a lawmaker it is our bounded duty to respect the lawand legal procedures. It applies to all in all cases becauseyou can only inform House is in session, give me further date,but you cannot avoid the law enforcing agencies' summons ornotices. This has to be taken note of by all," he said andadded that he was only stating provisions of law and rules.

His announcement was lauded by some members. NKD/SKCDV DV