The deputy speaker Shawkat Ali on Tuesday disallowed Members of Parliament from raising points of order at sweet will to waste time of the House on unscheduled discussions.
He refused ‘freestyle’ use of points of order to waste time on unscheduled discussions.
The chair refused floor to ruling alliance lawmaker Mayeen Uddin Khan Badal who could not specify under what rule of the Rules of Procedure and under what provision of the Constitution he wanted to speak on a point of order.
‘I got your chit in which you mentioned that you want to speak on something important. But you have to specify what rule was violated and on which rule you want to speak,’ he told Badal.
The deputy speaker also reminded the lawmaker that on Thursday the House had agreed to strictly follow the Rules of Procedure.
Badal said he wanted to speak on a very important issue concerning violation of the lawmakers’ immunity which to him was violation of the Constitution.
When the deputy speaker wanted to know whether the Constitution was violated in the House, Badal said ‘yes’.
But when Badal could not specify which rule or the stipulation of the Constitution had been violated saying he did not have a copy of the Constitution with him, the deputy speaker told him, ‘You have to come prepared. Come prepared and with the Constitution, and I would allow you to speak.’
When Badal sought the floor again after the recess for the Maghrib prayers, saying he came prepared, the chair told him, ‘We would discuss it on another day, no more today. You have missed the bus.’
The deputy speaker expressed his disapproval over the tendency for freestyle invocation of point of order.
On Thursday, following an unscheduled discussion initiated by independent lawmaker Fazlul Azim, the deputy speaker reminded the MPs that not to raise points of order without a valid ground.
He said it gets difficult to discourage senior lawmakers when they often rise on points    order without valid grounds.
The deputy speaker sought the cooperation of the MPs in following the Rules of Procedure in letter and spirit.