PANAJI: Speaker of the state legislative assembly Anant Shet on Thursday disallowed an Adjournment Motion notice signed by nine opposition legislators, stating that he has already admitted a No Confidence Motion against the government – the Chief Minister and his Council of Ministers – which would be taken up for discussion during the last week of the ongoing monsoon session of the House, just as the opposition legislators went ahead and gave another notice about a No Confidence Motion against the Speaker himself.
The Adjournment Motion notice sought adjournment of the business of the House due to large scale infringement of the rights and privileges of the opposition MLAs, as the government was evading questions by citing reason of technical and bureaucratic failure.
The Speaker giving his ruling on the Adjournment Motion notice said that such notice is normally not admitted when important business is scheduled during the session. “If the opposition has to censure the government then they have ample opportunities to raise their issues through other means,” he added, maintaining that financial business of the House needs to be cleared on priority.
The Speaker also quoted a ruling of the then speaker of the Lok Sabha, Shivraj Patil, dating back to 1996-97: “The Adjournment Motions are not allowed during the budget session or during the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address.”
The Adjournment Motion is an extraordinary procedure which, if admitted, leads to setting aside the normal business of the House for discussing a definite matter of urgent public importance. The Adjournment Motion notice submitted to the Office of the Speaker on August 4 was signed by leader of the opposition Pratapsing Rane, Digambar Kamat, Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco, Vishwajit Rane, Pandurang Madkaikar, Chandrakant Kavalekar, Rohan Khaunte, Naresh Sawal and Vijai Sardesai.
Later, addressing a press conference, independent MLA from Fatorda Vijai Sardesai said that he has also filed a breach of privilege against the government as he was not getting the answers to his starred and unstarred questions. “The passing of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill in the Rajya Sabha was a show of unity among the ruling and the opposition parties, which is not seen in the Goa assembly,” he stated, charging that the government is bullying the opposition here.
Sardesai also alleged that Emergency is back. “This is an undeclared Emergency, imposed by the same people, who had suffered during the Emergency in the 1970s,” he added.
Speaking further, the Fatorda MLA alleged scams linked to the proposals cleared by the Investment Promotion Board. He also challenged Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar for an open debate on the matter at Azad Maidan.
Margao MLA Digambar Kamat said that the Investment Promotion Board should be scrapped and any industry coming to Goa should seek permissions from the local bodies.
