Legislative Assembly Speaker Kodela Sivaprasada Rao has announced constitution of the committee to go into the happenings in the House on December 18, the day when YSRC MLA R.K. Roja was suspended from the service of the House for one year after reportedly using abusive language against some members, including Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu.
Terms of reference
The committee will be headed by the Deputy Speaker and will consist of one member each from the three principal parties in the Assembly, the Telugu Desam, the YSR Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party. The committee’s terms of reference would include examination of the overall proceedings of the day when unruly scenes were witnessed in the House, check how the CDs of the proceedings were leaked to the social media, one year suspension of Ms. Roja and related issues.
“I have personally instructed the Legislature Secretary not to release the CDs of the proceedings to anyone.
The CDs were released after the three parties requested for them. But the proceedings were leaked to the social media before this,” he said. An inquiry had been ordered into the issue because the proceedings were leaked from the Assembly and various aspects including whether cell phones/I Pads were used to capture the images and voices during the proceedings.
The committee would be given a timeframe to complete its study and submit a report to the Privileges Committee before the budget session of the Assembly. The report of the Privileges panel would then be submitted to the House for a debate on the recommendations.
Referring to charges that the ruling party members too had used abusive language, he said the Chair was ready to initiate similar action against the members of the Treasury Benches if the Opposition could submit a proof on the issue. The Speaker sought to distance himself from the controversy raised over the Government Chief Whip’s claim that the proceedings were be released with the permission of the Chair.
