Shillong, March 3: Suspended Congress legislator P.N. Syiem, expressing surprise that he was made to sit on the treasury bench with ruling Congress MLAs, today sought clarity from the Speaker on the seating arrangement for him in the House.

Syiem, also the chief executive member of Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council, was suspended from the Congress for three years on October 14 last year for alleged anti-party activities.

Seeking Speaker Abu Taher Mondal's opinion, Syiem said, "I want to know whether a suspended member should sit on the treasury bench with other ruling members or should his seat be on the Opposition bench or should a separate seat and a separate room be arranged for an unattached member of the ruling party. Is a whip issued by the ruling party applicable to a suspended member?"

In a lighter vein, Opposition chief whip James K. Sangma pointed out some vacant seats on the Opposition bench to Syiem (indicating that he could occupy any).

Mondal told Syiem that there was no official communication from the Congress to him regarding his suspension. As such, Syiem still belonged to the ruling party but there was no bar for him on rooms. He can go to the ruling party's or Opposition's rooms or come to the Speaker's chamber.

"It's beautiful, Mr Speaker. Outside the House, I am barred from being with the party but inside the House I am made to be with the party," Syiem remarked.

He opined that a member who has been suspended by his party would become an unattached member and, therefore, should be allotted a separate seat and room in the Assembly.

To justify his argument, Syiem cited the Supreme Court's judgment in the case of Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh vs Union of India.

The apex court, in its ruling in November 2010, had stated that no action shall be taken against expelled Samajwadi Party MPs Amar Singh and Jaya Prada under the anti-defection law in the event of their defying a party whip.

Syiem contented that there was no difference between suspension and expulsion.

However, senior Congress MLA and state PCC president D.D. Lapang, who had issued the suspension order against Syiem last year, countered Syiem's comment, saying, "The word suspension and expulsion are different. To say that 'outside the House I am outside the Congress' is wrong".