Turf war over upkeep of Soudha buildings reaches Cabinet

Govt treads cautiously, as Cabinet section asks PWD to seek legal opinion

The tussle between the Public Works Department and the Legislative Assembly secretariat over the latter’s decision to take over the maintenance of the Vidhana Soudha, Suvarna Soudha in Belagavi and ownership of several prominent buildings has now reached the state Cabinet.

The PWD had recently submitted an eight-page, detailed note to the Cabinet section, urging the Cabinet headed by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to take an appropriate decision on the controversial move of the Assembly secretariat. The department has clearly stated that there is no legal provision for the Assembly secretariat to take over the maintenance of these buildings.

The Cabinet note, a copy of which is available with DH, said there is no provision under the Karnataka government (transaction of business) rules, 1977, and the Karnataka government (allocation of business) rules, 1977, to allow the legislature to do any maintenance work. Unless these rules are amended, neither the Upper House nor the Lower House of the legislature can take up any maintenance work. These rules are framed as per Section 166 of the Constitution, which empowers the government to draw money from the Consolidated Fund.

The Assembly secretariat on Wednesday issued an order, taking over the responsibility of maintaining Vidhana Soudha, Suvarna Soudha and Legislators’ Home and ownership of several buildings in Bengaluru. The Assembly secretariat had issued the order without obtaining the approval of the government. Many senior ministers, including Revenue Minister Kagodu Thimmappa, and Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Jagadish Shettar had opposed the move.

The Assembly secretariat had, in February this year, sent a list of buildings to be handed over to them and described the maintenance being done by PWD as “against independence and autonomy of legislature.” The PWD is currently maintaining almost all government buildings.
Official sources in the PWD said the government had decided to handle the issue carefully and avoid antagonising Assembly Speaker K B Koliwad. That is why neither the chief minister nor Public Works Minister H C Mahadevappa issued any statement on the issue, the sources said.
The Cabinet section is understood to have asked the PWD to take the opinion of the Finance as well as Law and Parliamentary Affairs departments on the issue.

This is because the Assembly secretariat has sought grants from the government to take up civil and electrical maintenance of the buildings that it has declared as taken over by it. PWD principal secretary M Lakshminarayana was not available for comments.