NT Staff Reporter
Panaji Aug 31: The opposition staged a walkout on the last day of the state legislative assembly session just after the question hour, protesting against the Speaker, Mr Francisco Sardinhas action of nominating a member from the treasury bench as chairman of the public accounts committee.The opposition alleged that the Speaker bypassing the parliamentary practice and rules had nominated a ruling party member as chairman which shall go to the members from the largest opposition party. The Priol MLA, Mr Vishwas Satarkar on a point of order argued that the Rule 201 (3) as regards the constitution of the PACs clearly mentioned, The chairman shall be nominated by the Speaker from amongst the members from the largest opposition party. The Speaker, in his ruling over the point of order said, There are business rules and there are precedences, and I have taken both of them into account while reconstituting these committees.
Mr Satarkar said the Speaker of the House cannot let the precedence overrule the business rules. Mr Speaker, please dont force us to bring a no-confidence motion against you, he stated. The members of the opposition except the leader of the opposition, Mr Manohar Parrikar and the Mapusa MLA, Mr Francis DSouza not satisfied with the Speakers ruling, later marched to the well of the House and shouted slogans against the Speaker. The Speaker directed the Pernem MLA, Mr Jitendra Deshprabu to go ahead with his calling attention motion, which was the next item on the days agenda. The opposition side then staged a walkout on the last day of the session.
Later in the evening, while adjourning the state assembly sine-die the Speaker reprimanded the opposition members, especially the opposition leader, for creating uproarious scenes in the House over the PAC constitution. Giving his observation at the fag end of the days seating, Mr Sardinha said the noisy scenes created by the opposition members over the PAC constitution was not fair and added that he had given his ruling by properly following the traditions of the House. The PAC, since 1988, had been headed by the members from the treasury benches, he said He gave the names of the former PAC chairmen till 1997 and said that he had considered the tradition while constituting the PAC yesterday. Mr Sardinha refuted the allegation by the BJP members that he had behaved in partisan manner while disqualifying Mr Mathany Saldanha as Cortalim MLA. The Speaker said after he delivered his Mathany order on August 9, the opposition BJP had created similar situation in the House.
Mr Sardinha said the allegation of giving the judgment copy to Mr Saldanha after three days of pronouncing judgment was false. He said the order was pronounced on August 9 at 4.30 p.m. and photo copy of the order was given to Mr Saldanha at 6 p.m. on the same day. However, he said the certified copy was given to Mr Saldanha next day. Referring to the order delivered by his predecessor disqualifying Mr Filip Neri Rodrigues as Velim MLA from the House on February 28, Mr Sardinha said his predecessor had immediately communicated to the Election Commission about the vacancy created in the Velim assembly constituency. He said when he was appointed as provisional Speaker by the Governor, Mr S C Jamir he had received communication from Mr Rodrigues. He had intervened and informed the EC that the order had been challenged before the court and as such earlier communication from his office informing about the vacancy in Velim be kept in abeyance.
Likewise, Mr Sardinha said after he received the High Court order giving conditional stay on the operation of the disqualification of Mr Saldanha, he said he had immediately communicated to the EC about the court order, which resulted in postponement of Cortalim by-election. The Speaker said the uproarious scenes created by BJP members had severely affected the business in the House. Therefore, he said, he reprimanded the opposition leader. He expressed hope that the BJP members in future would maintain decorum of the House in dignified manner. On the other hand, Mr Parrikar speaking to reporters observed that the work of the PACs is to act as watchdog and monitor the functioning of the government. If the MLAs of the ruling party are nominated as chairmen of these committees by the Speaker, how can one expect them to act as effective watchdog, he questioned.
The Speaker had recently appointed Mr Parrikar as chairman of the estimate committee, while ruling party MLAs, including the Ponda MLA and Goa pradesh Congress committee president, Mr Ravi Naik, were nominated for heading 11 other committees. Mr Parrikar is also chairman of two other sub-committees. Mr Parrikar pointed out that Mr Sadanand Malik of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party was appointed as the chairman of the PACs, in 1997, when the MGP was the main opposition party in the House and he had carried out all the works pending before the committees.
Mr Parrikar said that he would write letters on the incident to the President, Dr A P J Abdul Kalam, besides the Speakers of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, Mr Somnath Chatterji and Mr Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, respectively. The correspondence in this matter will also be done with the leaders of the opposition in both houses of Parliament, he informed. He mentioned that to keep the record straight, he would also write to the Chief Secretary about the matter. Mr Parrikar lamented that the ruling party, in a bid to go ahead with its decisions in the House, bypass all rules and regulations. Unfortunately, the Speaker is also a party to this proceedings, he said, adding that yesterday the Speaker allowed the House to be run without quorum for quite some time.
The opposition leader observed that the ruling party was moving the bills in the House without following the rules. The mandatory three-day notice period requirement for the bills is not being followed, he stated. Recalling the previous constitution of the PACs, Mr Satarkar said that during his tenure as the Speaker, he had appointed the then leader of the opposition, Mr Pratapsing Rane as the chairman of the PACs, not once but for consecutive three years.
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