'Bureaucrats equal partners in corruption'

At a time when scams involving politicians are hitting headlines at the day break, former Speaker of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly K R Ramesh Kumar said it was time for people to introspect.

“People should stop blaming politicians and introspect about the kind of leaders they have elected,” he added.

He was speaking at a day-long seminar on ‘Behaviour of Legislatures, Legislators and the Anti-Defection Law’ organised jointly by the JSS Law College (Autonomous) and PRS Legislative Research, in the city on Saturday.

Continuing, Kumar said that corruption can take place only with active connivance of the bureaucrats, judiciary and the media. He said that a politician is subject to public scrutiny. However, why aren’t IAS officers, Judges not open to public scrutiny? he questioned.

Unpardonable behaviour

Taking strong exception to the deplorable ‘show’ staged by the elected representatives, who stood on the benches in the Legislative Assembly with their shirts torn, shouting in desperation at their fellows, Kumar said their behaviour was simply ‘unpardonable’.
Commenting on the number of days the Legislative Assembly is in session during its whole term, Kumar said that the first and second Legislative Assemblys were in session for 269 and 375 days respectively. However, the last Assembly session was only for a period of 165 days. If a session is held  for five months in a period of five years, how can people’s problems be discussed? he asked.

Not a word in Parliament!

Earlier, PRS Legislative Research Director Dr C V Madhukar bemoaned that there were several MPs elected for several terms from the State, but they haven’t spoken a word in Parliament.

Observing that politicians are not the only persons to be blamed, he said that nearly 1,400 documents are tabled per session. But, the government has not provided any research staff to MPs and MLAs to ensure that they make informed decisions.

Legislators fail

In 2005, Karnataka passed a legislation mandating that a Legislative Assembly should be in session for atleast 60 days a year. After its implementation, its not met for 60 days even once, Madhukar observed.