AP:Validity Of Legislative Council Questioned In Assembly

AMARAVATI: The validity in the continuation of the Legislative Council has come up for detailed debate in the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly on Thursday.

Speaking on the occasion, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has said that it was unfortunate for the Council to refer the Bills on decentralisation of administration and repeal of the Capital region Development Authority passed by the Assembly to a select committee and outlined the need for a discussion on the continuation of the Council. He said sending the bills to the select committee was in violation of rules of the Assembly.

The Chief Minister said that the Council was of no use when it was working with a political agenda and its continuation should be given a serious thought. He said the Council was there only to give suggestions and make recommendations and for adopting delaying tactics while dealings with the Bills that were referred to it.

While referring to the decentralisation bill, he said the word capital was not there in the Constitution and it was just a seat of governance which could be decentralised for administrative convenience and that freedom was given by the people to the government by giving overwhelming mandate. He said this House is by the people and for the people. Hence, the government had taken many revolutionary decisions foe people’s welfare in the past six-and-a-half months like setting up of a permanent BC Commission, nominated posts for the SC, ST, BC and Minorities, 50% reservations for women, Disha Act, reverse tendering, setting up of village panchayats and 75% reservations for locals to name a few.

Finally, today we have passed a Bill with a provision of English medium of instruction in the government primary schools, said the Chief Minister. Referring to the developments in the Legislative Council on Wednesday, he said he was very much pained about it and said there was a need for checks and balances in a democracy and he was bound by them. He said what transpired in the Council was ag inst the faith of the five crore people of the state.

The Chief Minister said that it was clear that the Council Chairman had acted in a partial manner by following the dictates of opposition leader N Chandrababu Naidu who was sitting in the Council gallery. Instead of making suggestions or even sending the Bills back, the Council Chairman talked of using his discretionary powers by referring the Bills to a select committee.

The Chief Minister questioned the need for the Council which costs Rs 60 crores of public money per year. He said only six states have the Legislative Council out of the 28 states in the country. He urged the Speaker to convene a session on Monday to Continue the debate on the Legislative Council.

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