Defunct jammers aid mobile use

Co-operation Minister Lakshman Savadi and Women and Child Development Minister C C Patil made good use of faulty mobile jammers inside the Legislative Assembly on Tuesday.

Mobile jammers, sources said, have not been working during the ongoing session of the State legislature due to a technical snag, but no action was taken by the Secretariat to repair the devices.

As a result, many legislators were found using mobile phones inside the House in the last few days.

Section 324 of Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Karnataka Legislative Assembly has laid down rules that need to be observed by the members while in the House. Actually, a member is not supposed to even read a newspaper in the House.

How they were caught…
The video journalists, who were covering the proceedings of the House from the visitors’ gallery on top, came across Savadi and Patil curiously watching something on a cellphone. When the journalists focussed on the cellphone and zoomed in, it turned out that the ministers were watching a video clipping with adult content.

The Assembly Secretariat recently banned video and photo journalists from covering the proceedings from inside the House. But the Secretariat’s decision to allow video journalists on the gallery of the House cost the two ministers dear.