THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan denied reports of rift with Finance Minister Thomas Isaac over issuance of a notice to the minister in connection with a breach of privilege notice moved by the opposition.
"It's is a natural process to issue a notice to a minister when someone moved a breach of privilege notice against the minister. The same happened in the case of finance minister and the reports of rift over issuing a notice to a minister is totally baseless," the office of the Speaker said.
Congress MLA V D Satheesan had moved a breach of privilege notice against the minister accusing him of breaching parliamentary privilege in connection with the row.
In the notice given to the Committee of Privileges and Ethics, Kerala Legislative Assembly, he accused that the minister had infringed the rights of the House by prematurely disclosing the detailes of the audit report of the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) for the period 2018-19 by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG).
Satheesan moved the notice under Section 159 of the Kerala Legislative Assembly, Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business.
Isaac had earlier claimed that it was the details of the draft report he had disclosed. However, he later admitted that it was the final report and not the draft, which led to breach of parliamentary privilege.