The disputes between Iranian parliament and the government continue as the head of parliament, Ali Larijani assured MPs that they have the right to question government ministers despite recent warnings from the head of Guardian Council to avoid imposing on the time of ministers with talks of impeachment.
According to Iranian Student News Agency, Ali Motahari, a Tehran MP called on parliament to react to the recent statements of Ayatollah Jannati, the hardline chairman of the Guardian Council who in a recent Friday Mass Prayers sermon rebuked the parliament for so much talk of impeachment and questioning of ministers.
Ali Motahari maintained that the parliament must assert its role and defend its right to monitor government activity.
Speaker of parliament, Ali Larijani responded to Motahari’s request saying: “I have told Mr. Jannati that the MPs only question ministers over issued that are problematic and this is their right.”
He added that most cases are outright “violations” which have to be addressed by the Members of Parliament and their tool is questioning and impeachment.
However, Larijani toned down his support for Motahari saying it is however best to avoid impeachment as much as possible but when there is no other channel, MPs have the right to impeach ministers and no one must stop them.
Ayatollah Jannati, a staunch Ahmadinejad supporter, criticized the parliament for the “widespread summoning” of ministers to the parliament in recent months saying: “The ministers are currently heavily burdened with the restructuring of government subsidies. SInce a single question by an MP can take up between 10 to 20 hours of a minister’s time, such questionings are not appropriate in this situation.”
Earlier Ali Motahari defended the parliament’s right to question minister and reminded Ayatollah Jannati that the rise in “government violations” is the only cause for the increase in ministers being summoned to parliament.
