VIJAYAWADA: The dispute between AP Legislative Council Chairman MA Shariff and AP Legislature Secretary (in-charge) P Balakrishnamacharyulu on the issue of constituting Select Committee to review AP Decentralisation and Inclusive Development of all Regions Bill 2020 and Repealing the APCRDA Act Bill took a new turn with the former lodging a complaint against the latter with the Governor.
The Council Chairman called on Governor Biswabhusan Harichandan at the Raj Bhavan here on Tuesday and submitted a complaint accusing the Secretary of disobeying his directions and delaying constitution of the Select Committee.
“I have taken to the notice of the Governor the issue of the in-charge secretary delaying the constitution of the Select Committee, notwithstanding the ruling given by the Chairman. An appeal was made to the Governor to take action against the Secretary for the delay and I sought his cooperation to ensure constitution of the Select Committee,’’ Shariff told reporters after meeting the Governor. Asserting that he did not violate the norms and referred the two Bills to Select Committee using discretionary powers as per the prevailing conditions in the House at that time, Shariff took exception to the Legislature Secretary ignoring his directions. The Legislature Secretary opposing the decision taken up by the Council Chairman was unprecedented, he noted. The Chairman is learnt to have explained the situation that led him to refer the Bills to the Select Committee. He also submitted the copies of the note files sent by the Secretary, rejecting his directions to release a bulletin constituting the panel.
On January 22, Council Chairman MA Shariff referred the two Bills to the Select Committee using his discretionary powers. On February 10, the Secretary, sent back the files to the Chairman’s office citing violation of rules in sending the Bills to the Select Committee. Though the Chairman once again sent the files to the Legislature Secretary cautioning to take action against him in case of ignoring his directions, the Secretary once again sent back the file to the Chairman’s office, forcing him to complain to the Governor.
However, reiterating the argument that the Chairman cannot use his discretionary powers to send the bills to the Select Committee without following the existing rules and procedures, Leader of the Council and Deputy Chief Minister (Revenue) Pilli Subash Chandra Bose said they would also apprise the Governor of the developments.
When contacted by TNIE, Bose maintained that the Chairman can use discretionary powers when either there is an ambiguity or in the absence of rules and procedures while dealing with an issue in the House.
“There are a set of guidelines to be followed for referring a bill to the Select Committee. However, the Chairman violated the rules and simply made an announcement referring bills to the Select Committee citing his discretionary powers. What will be the fate of a government facing ‘No Confidence’ motion in case of the Speaker of the Assembly announcing abolition of the government citing discretionary powers without voting in the House?” he sought to know.
“We, too, will call on the Governor soon and explain the violations committed by the Council Chairman,’’ he said.Stating that the issue of constitution of Select Committee was a closed chapter, he said the options left were either to approve or reject the bills in the ensuing Budget Session, he said.Meanwhile, sources said that the Governor may appoint an inquiry committee to look into the issue.