Thiruvananthapuram : Ramesh Chennithala walked out of Assembly resentful of UDF’s adjournment notice against Lokayukta Ordinance. The adjournment motion was VD Satheesan’s payback to Chennithala's recent announcment on moving a motion to rejectthe ordinance, that he was subsequently forced to recall. The adjournment notice was submitted by Sunny Joseph. Chennithala, who arrived at the House in the morning, left it at zero hour.
Both, the Speaker MB Rajesh, who admitted the adjournment notice, and Minister P. Rajeev who responded to it, opined that the Opposition should preferably have opted for a motion to reject the ordinance. The government has not done away with any of Lokayukta’s powers, said P. Rajeev.
No changes have been effected into sections that empowers Lokayukta to demand submission of investigation report, removal of an official, or prosecution recommendations. The change introduced is limited to the provision that Lokayukta ruling should be accepted as ultimatum. The overbearing of a constitutional establishment by a statutory body runs against constitutional ethos. The government has only corrected that defect based on expert advice, the minister said.
It is section 14 of the law rather than the amendment itself that ‘s bizarre. Neither in Lokpal or in Congress-ruled states does Lokayukta exist without scope for appeal. The Governor has clarified that he signed the Ordinance only after examining the legal aspects of the document, said P. Rajeev.
