Kerala Gold Smuggling case: Opposition serves notice seeking removal of assembly speaker P Sreeramakrishnan

PTI, Jan 4, 2021, 7:22 PM IST

The Congress-led UDF opposition in Kerala on Monday served a notice to the Assembly Secretary seeking the removal of Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan from the constitutional post in the wake of allegations against him in the controversial gold smuggling case. M Ummer, a legislator of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), a key coalition partner in the UDF, submitted the notice under Article 179 (C) of the Constitution, which deals with the removal of the speaker and rule 65 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Kerala Assembly.

The Manjeri MLA had earlier served a similar notice last July, but the Speaker had refused to accept the resolution, citing technical reasons. The alleged personal relationship of the Speaker with the accused in the gold smuggling case and his presence in the inauguration of a workshop owned by one of them was “not in accordance of the decorum of the House,” the notice said.

“The Kerala community was shocked to hear that the Customs was going to interrogate the Speaker in the dollar smuggling case,” it said. Allegations of corruption and extravagance against him in connection with various construction activities in the Assembly and programmes like e-niyamasabha, festival on democracy and so on were now a talking point among the public, the notice said.

“No such serious allegations have been levelled against any other Speaker in the past,” it said, seeking the removal of Sreeramakrishnan as “he failed to keep the dignity of the post.” The Speaker had come under criticism from the Opposition for inaugurating the shop of one of the accused in the gold smuggling case, Sandeep Nair, months ago. There were media reports last week that the Customs would soon serve him notice for interrogation in connection with the dollar smuggling case.