Speaker Humayun Rashid Chowdhury yesterday ruled that the participation of the State Minister for planning in the discussion on supplementary budget on June 17 in no way violated any provision of the Constitution, reports BSS.

Giving his ruling on the issue, the Speaker said the point of order raised on the matter by Deputy Leader of the Opposition AQM Badruddoza Chowdhury, thus, could not be accepted.

Chowdhury said when he entered the House to preside over on June 17. he found that the main opposition walked out of the House but they returned to the House after a short time.

He said the Deputy Leader of the Opposition had alleged that the relevant provisions of the Constitution were violated when the State Minister for Planning took part in the bud-C discussion since the minis-

1s not a member of Parliament.

He said the treasury bench member Suranjit Sengupta had rebutted the objections raised by the Opposition on the issue, saying that the Planning Minister confined his speech within his Jurisdiction since much of the development budget is related to the Annual Development Plan. Gupta had Justified the participation of the State Minister of Planning In the discussion since he dealt with the 12HrBri(Jfar

matters relevant to his sector, the Speaker said.

Chowdhury said he had gone through the verbatim report of the proceedings and he is convinced that the State Minister for Planning and the Deputy Speaker, who was presiding over the session, were very much aware of their role governed by the Constitution on the matter.

The Speaker said the State Minister for Planning s participation in the discussion on the supplementary budget did not violate any provision of the Constitution.