As anticipated, Opposition parties in the Legislative Council on Monday put a break on the government’s move to split the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) by referring the Karnataka Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill-2015 to the Select Committee of the Council.
The government, which had convened a special session of the legislature to discuss and pass the Bill on splitting the BBMP, made efforts to convince leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Janata Dal (Secular) to give up their demand that the Bill be referred to the committee.
But, its efforts went in vain as the House referred the Bill to the committee by voice vote.
With this, the Council set a new precedent. It referred the Bill, which was passed in the Assembly, to the select committee for the first time. The committee, where BJP and JD(S) members will outnumber the Congress, will study the Bill and submit a report in three month’s time.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister T.B. Jayachandra defended the government’s decision to split the BBMP citing various lapses during the last five years of the BJP rule in the civic body.
Mr. Siddaramaiah said the former Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar and former Minister S. Suresh Kumar favoured restructuring the BBMP when the BJP was in power. Showing the BJP manifesto, Mr. Siddaramaiah said; “I don’t have any intention to misrepresent the facts. We have taken a conscious decision on trifurcation based on recommendations made by an expert committee headed by former Chief Secretary B.S. Patil.
Mr. Jayachandra explained difficulties in providing civic facilities to 198 wards of the BBMP, with a population of more than a crore, and said trifurcation would help in providing transparent and effective governance.
The decision to split the civic body was also a promise made by the Congress in its 2013 Assembly polls manifesto.
But the Opposition was unrelenting and after hearing arguments from Congress and the Opposition, Chairperson D.H. Shankaramurthy gave his ruling and referred the Bill to the Select Committee.
Opposition BJP and JD(S) created a bad precedent by referring Bill to the Select Committee. Their move is totally unconstitutional, as the Bill did not originate from Council.SiddaramaiahChief Minister
It’s a victory for justice. The government tried to circumvent the law. Law Minister T.B. Jayachandra tried to misguide the House.K.S. EshwarappaLeader of the Opposition in Council
