The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Ruling reserved on privilege move

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jul 18, 2006

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Ruling reserved on privilege move

Staff Reporter

Minister charged with making policy statement outside House

BANGALORE: Acting Chairman Sachidanand L. Khot on Monday reserved his ruling on a privilege motion moved by B.K. Chandrashekar (Congress) against Leader of the House D.H. Shankaramurthy in the Legislative Council.

Rules flouted

Raising the issue, Prof. Chandrashekar said Mr. Shankaramurthy flouted the rules and breached the privilege of the House by making a major policy statement outside the House when the legislature was in session.

Prof. Chandrashekar, Leader of the Opposition H.K. Patil and Janata Dal (U) members M.P. Nadagouda and Basavaraj Bommai were referring to the statement made by Mr. Shankaramurthy, who is the Minister for Higher Education, that the Government was contemplating subsidising the tuition fees for professional courses in the case of meritorious students who could not afford to pay the high fees in private colleges.

That would entail paying around Rs. 25 crore to the private institutions.

Prof. Chandrashekar said a major announcement of this nature ought to have been made in the House and not to the media. It constituted disrespect to the House and a breach of privilege.

Government's effort

Deputy Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa tried to pacify the members saying that the Government was considering ways and means to mitigate the problems of students caused the Common Entrance Test and fee-structure tangle.

He said the Government had not increased the fees in aided and government institutions, and was toying with the idea of paying a subsidy in the interest of students.

Sharp reaction

This had Congress members reacting sharply saying that this implied that they did not have the interests of the students at heart, and Prof. Chandrashekar said an attempt was being made to digress from the main issue. Mr. Shankaramurthy ought to have shared the announcement with the House before going to the media, he said.

Mr. Khot ended the noisy debate saying he reserved his ruling.

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