Uproar over flouting of rules by ministers forces adjournment of Odisha Assembly till 3 pm

Sambad English Bureau Published On : Mar 19, 2015 at 1:33 PM Updated On : Mar 19, 2015 at 3:41 PM

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Mar 19:

The Odisha Assembly today witnessed uproarious scens over Speaker Niranjan Pujari’s refusal to allow discussion on two issues during Zero Hour forcing the House to be adjourned twice, first till 12.30 PM and subsequently till 3 PM as similar situation continued on resumption at 12.30 PM.

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During the Zero Hour, Leader of the Opposition Narsingha Mishra drew the attention of the Chair to the fact that ministers were giving written replies during demand discussions and raised objections on it.

“As per provision of Rule 189 of the Rules of Business, the ministers shall not read a written speech while replying. The minister has to take prior permission of the Chair if he or she wants to read out something while replying to a demand discussion,” Mishra said.

However, it has been a trend in the House that the ministers are reading out replies, he pointed out. “We are here to upkeep rules and laws. However, we are breaking the rules and the laws,” he said.

Mishra alleged that replies to special mention notices served by members were not being given within 48 hours as the rules of business in the Assembly prescribe.

Mishra demanded a ruling from the Speaker on these two issues. The Speaker responded by saying it would be discussed later.

As soon as the Speaker refused an immediate discussion on the twin issues, Congress members rushed into the well of the House and created noisy scenes forcing Speaker Niranjan Pujari to adjourn the House till 12.30 PM. Speaker Pujari issued a ruling to resolve the issue at an all-party meeting he convened.

Ruckus continued over the two issues in the House when it reassembled at 12.30 PM forcing the Speaker to adjourn the House a second time till 3 PM.

Senior BJD member Amar Prasad Satpathy said outside the House that he agrees with the Leader of Opposition on the allegation that the members were not being given replies on special mention notices within 48 hours.