Leader of the Opposition and DMK leader M.K. Stalin on Friday led a delegation of representatives from opposition parties in the Assembly and met Governor Ch. Vidyasagar Rao seeking his intervention to direct the Speaker to constitute a dozen committees of the House.
A joint memorandum signed by leaders of the DMK, the Congress and the IUML, submitted to the Governor, referred to the futile attempts made earlier by them to urge Speaker P. Dhanapal to constitute the committees since the new Assembly was constituted in May this year.
“The Speaker is elected by the House. He is expected to maintain order in the House. To uphold democratic norms and tradition, it is his duty to ensure that the proceedings of the House are conducted according to the rules of business of the House,” the memorandum stated and accused the Speaker of having ignored certain provisions of the Rules of Business.
The memorandum claimed that DMK, the principal opposition with a strength of 89 members, inferred that the Speaker was “under pressure from the ruling party to postpone the Constitution of various Committees, just to avoid members of the opposition party from getting appointed in large numbers.” It also alleged that by not constituting these Committees, the Speaker was “violating the provisions of the Rules.”
The members of these parties sought the Governor’s intervention under Article 175(2) of the Constitution to direct the Speaker to constitute all the House Committees of the Assembly (see graphics), strictly following the rules regarding membership and Chairmanship of various Committees, at the earliest.
The functioning of these committees and their study reports had in the past helped the government to ensure better administration, including timely implementation of various promises made in the House, the members pointed out.
Usually, the Committees would be constituted within 15 days after the first sitting of the newly elected Assembly, but this year they had not been constituted, though the 15th Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly was constituted as early as May.
