BENGALURU: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday directed the chief secretary to issue notices to department secretaries and even suspend the secretary in whose department many questions are pending replies.
Informing this in the Assembly, Home Minister Dr G Parameshwara said that instructions were given to serve notices and suspend the officers at the meeting that Speaker UT Khader held along with CM Siddaramaiah, Leader of Opposition in Assembly R Ashoka and Chief Secretary Dr Shalini Rajneesh after the House was adjourned earlier in the day.
Earlier in the day, upset over the insufficient number of written replies from government departments to MLAs’ questions, Khader adjourned the House and walked out, stating that he would not run the House until the ministers and secretaries provide an explanation.
Dr Parameshwara also assured the House that the government has taken it seriously and will ensure that such incidents don’t repeat by providing timely replies to the majority of the questions. It was also found that the Revenue Department has replied to only 20 of the 91 questions.
Dr Parameshwara termed the Speaker adjourning the House over the issue as “a rare one in the history of the legislature in Karnataka”, terming it may be a second or third to happen. “I will promise that in the future no such development will take place as the government will take it seriously to give answers,” he said, adding that if the answers are below 50%, it is embarrassing to the government and sets a wrong precedent.
Ashoka congratulated him for upholding the dignity of the House. “In the housing department, only four of the 31 questions of legislators were answered, which means no officer is taking it seriously.
The chief secretary should have reviewed it, but she played ignorance as she did not know how many written questions had come to the government,” Ashoka charged. He urged that the officers responsible should be suspended as they, too, are accountable.
“The responsible ministers should be punctual so that it eventually reflects in the IAS officers and their subordinates down the line,” he said, pointing out that the ministers have made it a habit to be absent from the House. “The government may be helpless, the officers are irresponsible... but the Speaker should not leave the House helpless,” BJP MLA V Sunil Kumar said while praising Khader.
Meanwhile, the Chief Secretary has reportedly served notices to the secretaries of revenue, housing and public works departments.