BENGALURU: Legislative Council chairman D H Shankaramurthy has proposed a conference of Council chairpersons of all states to deliberate ways to make the Upper House “more dynamic and effective”.
Shankaramurthy told Express that he was strongly in favour of bringing in changes in the functioning of the Upper House to help it live up to its stature.
He, however, denied that the Council was fast losing its importance to the Legislative Assembly, and said, “Instead, the importance of the Legislative Council is being felt more now.”
The Karnataka Legislative Council celebrated its centenary recently. “I feel that there exists more scope to make it (the Council) more effective and useful,” he said. He added that his counterpart from Maharashtra had responded positively to the proposed meeting.
At present, only Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Maharashtra have an Upper House. Odisha, Rajasthan and Assam have also shown interest in going for the bicameral legislature system.
Referring to a debate on the possibilities of discontinuing the practice of adjournment motions in the Upper House, he said, “When I was the opposition leader, I had also felt in favour of this.” “There are pros and cons to allowing adjournment motions in the Upper House as is the case in the Assembly. This needs to be debated at length before a final decision is taken,” he added. He said only the Karnataka Legislative Council has the provision to move adjournment motions. Adjournment motion is a powerful legislative tool for the Opposition benches. The chair would set aside all other businesses of the House if the motion is allowed for a debate. After a debate on the motion, the opposition members can also demand a vote on it.
Expressing concern at the practice of members trooping into the well of the House and disrupting the proceedings, he strongly feels that this should be curbed.