BENGALURU: The tussle between Legislature Secretariat and Public Works Department (PWD) is likely to escalate as the Legislature has decided to further press its demand to have control over all the structures that house the offices related to Legislative Assembly and Council.
Chairman of Legislative Council D H Shankaramurthy on Monday said that efforts are on to get the control of first and second floors of Vidhana Soudha.
“The effort is on since a long time and I do not know why it has raised a controversy now.”
Citing the system in Parliament, Shankaramurthy said, “Entire Parliament building is under the control of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha Secretariats. Offices are being provided for the ministers only during the Parliament session.”
“The Legislative Assembly and Council halls are located in the first floor of Vidhana Soudha. Most of the offices related to both the houses are located in the first and second floors of Vidhana Soudha. So it would be more appropriate to hand over the two floors to Legislature Secretariat for control and maintenance,” Shankaramurthy told reporters after meeting a delegation of officers from United Nations at Vidhana Soudha on Monday.
A similar demand from Assembly Speaker K B Koliwad to have control over Legislators’ Hostel(LH) and Legislature Secretariat had met with resistance from PWD earlier.
However, Shankaramurthy is optimistic on convincing the Chief Minister. “We will discuss the issue with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and try to convince him on our demand,” he said.