Bhubaneswar: The ‘Lokayukta issue’ stalled the Assembly for the second consecutive day Saturday as Opposition Congress and the BJP insisted on a statement from Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on submission of a ‘false affidavit’ before the apex court on the appointment of Lokayukta.
The Opposition members also reiterated their demand for an apology from the leader of the house for submitting a ‘false’ affidavit in the apex court.
The Chief Secretary in an affidavit submitted before the apex court April 19 had stated that the Odisha Lokayukta Act, 2014 has come into force with effect from January 16, 2015 and the steps for framing of Orissa search committee rules are under process.
Leader of Opposition Narasingha Mishra, who dared the CM to show the notification on enforcement of Lokayukta Act, demanded him to make a statement in the house and clarify the whole issue.
Mishra said the government was misleading the Supreme Court and the house and has taken every body for a ride with regard to the appointment of Lokayukta in the state.
As members assembled for the day, opposition Congress and the BJP members trooped into the well of the house and disrupted the business reiterating their demand for a statement on the Lokayukta and an apology.
Finding it difficult to conduct business, Deputy Speaker SN Marndi who was on the chair adjourned the house till 3pm.
Later, Speaker Pradip Kumar Amat adjourned the house till 4 pm and convened an all-party meeting in his chamber with the Leader of Opposition, Congress chief whip, government chief whip, state parliamentary affairs minister, finance minster, BJP legislature party chief and CPM member Laxman Munda to end the deadlock. Subsequently, the house was adjourned twice for another 30 minutes.
When the members reassembled at 4.30 pm, normalcy retuned after parliamentary affairs minister assured that the government would issue a clarification on this.
The leader of opposition asked the government to go through media reports on the Lokayukta matter and place a statement in the house, to which the parliamentary affairs minister Bikram Keshari Arukh said that government will examine the reports and place a statement in the house accordingly. Government chief whip Amar Satpathy said the state government hasn’t tried to misrule and it has utmost respect for the apex court.
Notably, the house had remained paralysed Friday with the Speaker adjourning the house at least five times till 4pm without transacting any business. Opposition Congress and the BJP members walked out when Speaker PK Amat went ahead with the business.
Demand for grants passed
The Odisha Assembly Saturday passed the demand for grants of around 24 departments through guillotine. This includes demand for grants of departments like Finance, Transport, Forest and Environment, Steel and Mines, Revenue and Disaster Management among others. The state government had placed `1.20 lakh crore budget for 2018-19 FY and passed vote-on-account for first month of the new FY in the first phase. The appropriation bill for the rest of the year along with other important bills will be tabled April 30 for their consideration. The session is scheduled to conclude May 5.
