BANGALORE: Bangalore Rural Zilla Panchayat meeting held here on Tuesday witnessed acrimony with members demanding the dismissal of the jurisdictional Deputy Director of Public Instruction (DDPI) Venkateshaiah on charges of corruption and misconduct.

Walkout

Alleging that Chief Executive Officer (CEO) K.S. Satyamurthy was sidelining the elected representatives and defending his officials, members staged a walkout and did not allow the zilla panchayat president C. Shantamma to conduct the proceedings.

Raising the issue, Leader of the Opposition in the panchayat Krishnappa of the Congress said that although the panchayat had adopted a resolution recommending Mr. Venkateshaiah's dismissal from the House in September, the Chief Executive Officer had not acted on it. "The Chief Executive Officer has deliberately delayed forwarding the resolution to the State Government.

Although the law specifies that any resolution should be sent to the Government within 15 days of its being adopted in the House, this particular resolution was sent after 34 days. 0The elected representatives do not command respect here and the officer behaves as a dictator," said Doddaballapur MLA J. Narsimhaswamy. When the members demanded that the CEO should immediately announce the action taken against the DDPI, the CEO said he was waiting for a direction from the Government in this regard.

"I have forwarded the resolution to the Government and I am awaiting a direction," he said.

Adjourned

Not satisfied with the reply, members, including those from the ruling Janata Dal (Secular), staged a walkout and the House was adjourned for two hours.

When the members refused to withdraw their demand despite repeated pleas by the CEO and the panchayat vice-president A.M. Venkatesh, the president adjourned the house.

Later, the CEO told presspersons that he had forwarded the resolution to the State Government on October 19.

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