CPM's Devikulam MLA A Raja has been fined Rs 5000 for using an incorrect word while formally taking oath as an MLA in Tamil on May 24. The MLA has been ordered to pay Rs 500 each for the five days he attended the Kerala Assembly after taking a faulty oath on May 24 and before taking the right oath on June 2.

It was found that Raja had used the wrong Tamil word 'unmayudan' for 'solemn'/'sagauravam' when he took his oath before the protem Speaker on May 24. This was rectified by taking a fresh oath before the Speaker on June 2.

The ruling was given by Speaker M B Rajesh on Monday on a procedural flaw raised by opposition leader V D Satheesan a week ago on June 2. Raja had not used the word on a whim but had read out from the 'form of oath' prepared for him by the Law Department.

The opposition leader wanted the Speaker's ruling on two issues. One, he wanted to know whether the legislator deserved punishment for violating article 193 of the Constitution, which deals with the penalty for attending the Assembly and voting after taking an 'incomplete oath'. The High Court, in an earlier ruling in 2003, had fined another Kerala legislator for all the days he had attended the Assembly proceedings after taking the wrong oath.

Two, can the vote the legislator had cast during the Speaker's election on May 25 be considered valid.

That the Devikulam MLA had taken the wrong oath was never in dispute. "A Raja had to take oath a second time on June 2 after the Legal secretary informed that the oath he took in Tamil was faulty and had to be corrected," the Speaker told the Assembly on Monday.

"The Law Department had also reported that the error in Raja's oath happened because the form of oath in Tamil prepared by the Law Department was incomplete," the Speaker added. The Law Department had prepared and given Raja a form of oath that did not include the right Tamil word for either 'in the name of God'/'daivanamathil' or 'solemn'/'sagauravam'.

"The chair will conduct a detailed examination into the circumstances that had caused such a grave failure and strict action would be taken," the Speaker said.

According to Article 188 of the Constitution, any oath that does not follow the form of oath given in the third schedule under the Article cannot be seen as a proper oath. Satheesan had argued that members taking such an incomplete oath had no right to enter the Assembly or take part in its proceedings or even vote. Further, the opposition leader said that Article 193 of the Constitution had stipulated a fine of Rs 500 for each day a member attended the Assembly after such a defective oath.

The Speaker, however, accepted only the penalty part of Satheesan's argument. He imposed a fine of Rs 500 for each of the five days Raja had attended the Assembly after taking the "incomplete oath".

The Speaker but refused to invalidate Raja's vote during the Speaker's election."Nowhere in the High Court's ruling (in 2003) had it been said that any action of the member in participating in the Assembly proceedings and casting his vote were invalid," the Speaker said.

Besides the High Court ruling, there was also Article 182(2) of the Constitution to back the Speaker's ruling. It says: "Any proceedings in the Legislature of a State shall be valid notwithstanding that it is discovered subsequently that some person who was not entitled so to do sat or voted or otherwise took part in the proceedings."

Raja's is the third time a member of the Kerala Assembly was swearing in for the second time. The first was in 1960, May 12, when CPI leader R Sugathan took his oath "keeping the people as witness" ('janathe sakshi aayi nirthy). He was made to utter the correct oath the very day itself.

The second was on June 5, 2001, when JSS MLA Umesh Challiyil took oath in the name of 'Sree Narayana Guru'. Challiyil went to court to assert his right to take oath in the name of the Guru saying that 'Sree Narayana Guru was his God'.

The High Court, however, found this unconstitutional and cancelled his oath. He was made to take oath for a second time on March 17, 2003. It was in this case that the High Court ordered that Rs 500 be collected from Challiyil for the 83 days he attended Assembly proceedings before taking the proper oath. Challiyil then had to cough up Rs 41,500.