JOIN USBills passed sans debate
The passage of the bills was put on fast track thanks to the absence of Opposition members in both the Assembly and Council where they have been able to prevent legislative business for the past three days, demanding, among other things, a CBI probe into illegal mining and the resignation of Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa.
What was noteworthy was that since the Opposition preferred to stay away from conducting any legislative exercise, the bills were passed without any discussion and debate. The Assembly sped through six bills, received clearance for drawing allocations for 28 departments and was done with Question Hour in 40 minutes.
The Council too matched the lightning speed with which the Assembly wrapped up proceedings in the event of non-cooperation from the Opposition benches.
It accorded consent to the passage of nine bills, including the vexatious bill on banning cow slaughter and the Alliance Private University Bill, in 45 minutes spanning two sessions.
Bills of paramount public importance, including legislation that seeks regularising unauthorised buildings and sites and the IT Investment Regions Bill for setting up a 10,000-acre info-tech park around Devanahalli near Bangalore, were passed without any debate in the Council.
Demands for grants for 28 departments were tabled and passed in no less than 12 minutes. Usually, discussions on money bills last for five to six days in the legislature. As many as three bills were tabled and six bills passed by voice-vote. The ruling BJP has 121 members in a House of 224 members.
Unmindful of the Opposition dharna, Assembly Speaker K G Bopaiah and Council Chairman D H Shankaramurthy conducted official business in accordance with the legislative agenda.
The unusual situation that the Assembly and the Council witnessed on Thursday is due wholly to the Congress and JD(S) members’ ceaseless agitation over their demand for a CBI probe into illegal mining in the state, a demand that Yeddyurappa has been loathe to concede to.
Donning black scarves, Congress legislators started their agitation on Thursday on a sedate note by resorting to silence. But when the chairpersons took up official business in accordance with the agenda, they started raising slogans against the ruling BJP.
During Question Hour in the Assembly, no member tabled any question when the Speaker called out the names of the legislators. As proceedings took on their pace, pandemonium broke out in the Assembly. Opposition members tore up copies of the bills and agenda papers and flung them in the House.
Shrieking and shouting slogans, the Congress MLAs removed their black scarves and waved them atop their heads in defiance. On the other hand, BJP members, who are otherwise quite vocal, maintained a stoic silence in the face of the Opposition agitation and unruliness. While the BJP members’ collective discipline helped the respective ministers to introduce the bills, voices from the Treasury benches arose only after the proposed legislations were put to voice vote.
Besides the Sakrama and ITR Bills, the Karnataka Irrigation and Certain Law (Amendment) Bill, the BWSSB (Amendment) Bill were passed without any debate. The Council adopted three bills in the morning session within 10 minutes and six more in the evening amidst the dharna by the Opposition.
While Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah termed the conduct of business as a ‘‘murder of democracy’’, JD(S) leader M C Nanaiah said that the government adopted deceptive means to pass the bills.
Predictably, Yeddyurappa found fault with the Opposition non-cooperation, though he apologised to the people of the state for the passage of the bills without debate. He said the Opposition would seek Governor H R Bhardwaj’s intervention in the manner in which the government passed the bills.
The Opposition members continued their day-night dharna for the fourth consecutive day. Former Prime Minister and JD(S) leader H D Deve Gowda and party MP H D Kumaraswamy attended a legislature party meeting at the Vidhana Soudha.