Need oath-taking advisory for law-makers:Maha Guv to vice prez

MaharashtraGovernor Bhagat Singh Koshyari on Saturdayurged Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to come up with an advisory for maintaining the sanctity of oath-taking process by law-makers. Koshyari observed some newly-elected members of Parliament/ state legislatures are departing from the prescribed form of language for oath-taking and adding names of their party leaders or venerable personalities while reading oaths.

Koshyari's demand came against the backdrop of Naidu, the Rajya Sabha chairman, expressing his disapproval over BJP's Udayanraje Bhosale raising slogans like 'Jai Hind, Jai Maharashtra, Jai Bhawani, Jai Shivaji' after taking oath as an MP recently. The governor has raised this demand in his letters to the presiding officers of the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha, the Raj Bhavan has said in a release.

He said such advisory needed to be adhered to in the context of the form and oath being read out by members. Such directions were needed to preserve the "sanctity and dignity" of the oath taking process, the governor wrote.

"Adding names of party leaders or any other person to whom members owe their faith or allegiance, to the format of the oath taking, violates the sanctity of oath taking process," stated Koshyari. The governor recalled that he had had to personally intervene and direct some of the members being sworn in as ministers in Maharashtra to repeat their oath strictly as per the prescribed format without any addition or deletion.

The governor said the issue of departure by members from the prescribed format for the oath need to be examined and deliberated upon. Last year, Koshyarihad made Congress' K C Padvi repeat his oath as a minister in the Maharashtra government in a prescribed format, after the latter had thanked his constituents and party leaders while being sworn in.