While the opposition DMK has alleged that its wheelchair-bound president and Tiruvarur MLA M. Karunanidhi has not been able to attend the proceedings of the Legislative Assembly due to lack of proper seating arrangements, the State Legislative Assembly Secretariat has said it has not yet received a formal application from any member seeking special seating arrangements.
Responding to an RTI query on seating arrangements for physically challenged MLAs, , S. Balakrishnan, Under Secretary in the Legislative Assembly Secretariat, said, “…no members have demanded for special seating arrangement for them while Assembly is in session and no such seating arrangement has been made for any Member so far.”
RTI Act activist S. Mahalingam had specifically sought to know from the Legislative Secretariat, how many physically challenged, particularly “walking impairment” (sic), persons have been members of the Tamil Nadu Assembly in the past 20 years.
No records
“How many of them demanded for special seating arrangement in the Assembly when (it was) in session,” he asked and wanted to know if such seating arrangement was provided and if so, for how many members.
Incidentally, while Mr. Balakrishnan on August 16 said no member had sought special seating arrangements, in another letter dated August 17, responding to the query on the number of physically challenged MLAs, he said, the information was unavailable “as no such record is maintained in the Secretariat”. According to Mr. Mahalingam, he had submitted the application under the RTI Act to ascertain the truth regarding the non-participation of Mr Karunanidhi in the Assembly proceedings.
“I came across media reports in which DMK leaders (including Leader of Opposition M.K. Stalin) said Mr Karunanidhi was willing to attend the Assembly but he was not provided proper seating arrangement. This is a simple demand. Even on trains and aircraft demands for special seating is conceded for the elderly. So I wondered why in the Assembly where legislations are enacted a veteran MLA in his nineties was not being given such concessions. But the Legislative Assembly Secretariat has now said that no such request has been made at all,” he said.
Daily allowance paidMr. Mahalingam also filed another RTI query asking whether the daily allowance is paid to MLAs who merely sign the attendance register without attending the Assembly sessions.
Under Secretary in the Legislative Assembly Secretariat, K. Ramesh replied in the affirmative.
