India News | Adjournment Motion Rejection Leads to Heated Arguments Between Speaker, LoP in Kerala Assembly
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. The Kerala Assembly on Thursday witnessed heated arguments between the Speaker and Leader of Opposition over denial of permission to an adjournment motion moved by the Congress-led UDF.
Thiruvananthapuram, Mar 2 (PTI) The Kerala Assembly on Thursday witnessed heated arguments between the Speaker and Leader of Opposition over denial of permission to an adjournment motion moved by the Congress-led UDF.
The opposition alleged that the Speaker was helping the ruling Left front in Kerala to run away from issues by denying, for the second consecutive day, permission to adjournment motions moved by the UDF.
Protesting against the denial of permission to the adjournment motion moved to discuss the salary issue of Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) employees, several UDF MLAs trooped into the well of the House and shouted slogans before the Speaker's dais.
Unperturbed by the shouting and sloganeering by the opposition, Speaker A N Shamseer directed the legislative business of the House to continue and at the same time requested the UDF MLAs to return to their seats.
When permission for the adjournment motion was denied right at the outset, Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Assembly V D Satheesan said, "You (Speaker) are for the second day running denying, without any reason, the opposition right to raise Rule 50 notice for adjournment.
"This is the state legislature and not the CPI(M) state committee. You can do whatever you want to in the CPI(M) state committee."
Satheesan further said that the Speaker was expected to protect the opposition right to raise adjournment motions, but "you are helping the state government to run away from the issues we are trying to raise in the House".
"We strongly object to it," he added.
Responding to the allegations, the Speaker pointed out that he had quoted Rule 52 (3) on Wednesday while denying permission for the adjournment motion to discuss the issue of alleged mismanagement in collection of GST and other taxes by the state government.
"Unfortunately, you (Satheesan) failed to notice the Rule quoted by the Chair and wrongly briefed the media that no Rule was quoted. You misled the House by such statements.
"That was an incorrect statement by you before the media and not expected from such a senior and experienced statesman like you," the Speaker said.
He further clarified that the adjournment motion of Thursday regarding KSRTC salary payments was denied permission under Rule 52 (7) as the issue was under consideration of the Kerala High Court which is expected to pass orders on it later this month.
Moreover, the issue was raised during the question hour and answered by the State Road Transport Minister Antony Raju, the Speaker said.
To this, Satheesan pointed to previous rulings of the Chair that irrespective of whether a question or submission has been raised or attention has been called regarding an issue, the same can be part of the adjournment motion.
"We will not allow denial of our rights in the House," the LoP said.
The opposition continued to shout slogans -- "it is shameful" and "permit Rule 50 notice" -- in the House as the legislative business progressed.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)