In a first in the country, an elected legislator was disqualified by the Maharashtra legislative council on Friday for being absent in the house for more than 60 days.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member Navnath Avhad has been in coma for more than three years and attended the house only once since he was elected in 2004. A committee, which monitors attendance of the members, had recommended that Avhad should be disqualified.
A proposal by Chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh to execute the recommendation was accepted by the house through a voice majority in the absence of opposition members of Shiv Sena and BJP. The opposition members walked out after the proposal was placed before the house alleging that it was politically motivated.
Putting the report before the house, chairman of the committee Muzaffar Hussain said,
“Avhad is absent for more than three years as he has been hospitalised in Pune. The doctors treating him has clarified that chances of his recovery are remote. So, we felt that it is impossible for him to be present in the house.”
However, leader of the opposition Pandurang Phundkar (BJP) took strong objection to the committee’s report. “There are four members in the committee. But the report was prepared by only two of them. There are cases in medical history where a patient had come out of coma even after a long time. Avhad should be pardoned for his absence on humanitarian grounds,” he said.
NCP member Vasant Pawar’s demand that Avhad should be declared as brain dead created a row in the house. Shiv Sena leader Diwakar Rawate said Pawar’s demand was politically motivated. He recalled that a BJP member, Dharamchand Chordia, who was in coma for a long time, came out of it and is doing well now. Chordia could not attend the house for a long time.
“Some legislators do not attend the house for years because they are lodged in prisons. It is a shame for us. But when a member cannot attend the house because he is bed-ridden and fighting for life, you propose to disqualify him,” Rawate said.
However, Deshmukh said, “Avhad is not able to perform his duties as an elected public representative. We have sympathy for him, but it is our duty to disqualify him.”
After the chief minister’s argument, chairman Shivajirao Deshmukh accepted the recommendations of the committee. BJP leader Nitin Gadkari dubbed the decision as murder of democracy. “Disqualification of Avhad is like declaring him dead. The proposal was illegal as the government had not informed the business advisory committee regarding it. The office of the chairman has become the political office of the ruling Congress-NCP. Avhad has been disqualified to make Deshmukh’s friend Sudhakar Gangane’s entry easy into the house,” he alleged. A fraud had come to light a few months ago when Avhad’s signature was forged to use his funds.
t_kiran@dnaindia.net
