Will make attendance mandatory for MLAs, try for 45-day session in Belagavi: Koliwad

Assembly Speaker K.B. Koliwad, who is also chairman of the committee probing lake encroachments in and around Bengaluru, is intent on bringing discipline among members when they participate in House proceedings. Besides the crucial rule insisting on members signing the register both for the morning and afternoon sessions, Mr Koliwad wants the session to be held for 45 days in a year in Belagavi. Excerpts from an interview with the Speaker.

You are chairing your first session after becoming Speaker, what are the issues which will be discussed?
The session will discuss issues pertaining to North Karnataka and try to find solutions. First, the Mahadayi water dispute with Goa and Maharashtra will be taken up for a day. One day will be allotted to discuss the drought situation.

Your predecessors said at least two sessions will be held at Suvarna Soudha in Belagavi but it was not implemented. Do you plan to conduct two sessions in Belagavi?
I feel we should have 90 days of the session in a year which should be equally divided between Vidhana Soudha (Bengaluru) and Suvarna Soudha (Belagavi). The 90-day session norm was adopted but not implemented. I have suggested that 45 days should be in Belagavi in two parts.

The Belagavi session is usually dedicated to discuss issues other than those pertaining to North Karnataka, will it be the same this session?
I will not allow discussion on any issue other than North Karnataka. I will ensure that a minimum three hours of the proceedings are held uninterruptedly to discuss the day’s agenda. Question Hour will not be suspended during the first hour of the day’s proceedings. After that, the House Secretary will table papers and reports in the House. Then time will be given for zero hour to raise important issues. After that, the House will take up issues as per any notices given.

Often, the Speaker has suspended Question Hour when the Opposition moves an adjournment motion, will you continue the convention?
I will not allow members to raise an adjournment motion by suspending Question Hour. We have amended rules pertaining to the conduct of business in the House and that report will be adopted in Belagavi session. According to the report, House proceedings should not be disrupted because of the adjournment motion notice. Afternoon sitting will be dedicated to raise adjournment motions or time will be allotted once zero hour is over. To conduct uninterrupted proceedings and to prevent members from conducting dharnas and boycott proceedings, the new system will be adopted. Members can submit the adjournment motion notice to the Speaker before noon. Earlier, the time for submission of the notice was an hour prior to the commencement of the Session.

What are the recommendations for smooth conduct of proceedings?
A minimum of 3 hours of the session should be conducted without any disruption. Members should be allowed to ask questions to the Assembly secretariat all through the year. Earlier, members had to do this 20 days before the session. It will help members ask important questions after they interact with voters. The House Secretariat used to list the questions and adopt a lottery system to choose starred and unstarred questions. I will not allow the government to seek time to answer starred questions, in 99% cases, I will ensure they provide answers to members. For unstarred questions, the respective departments should send answers to the members within 15 days of the session.

Do you plan to make House procedures paperless?
Yes, the project report is ready for implementing E-Vidhan in the House. Before doing this, we have to train members.

You have mooted the idea of compulsory attendance in the House?
Members are not ordinary people, they have to discharge public duties so we cannot compel them to sit in the House. However, we will amend rules to divide the session into morning and afternoon sitting. Members have to sign during both the morning and afternoon sittings. This will prevent them from signing the register in the morning and leaving the House for the day.

Another criticism against members who are in House committees is that without attending committee meetings, they draw TA and DA. Do you have plans to check this?
Without the quorum, the committee cannot conduct proceedings. We are helpless in preventing members from drawing TA and DA without attending meetings, they should know how to control themselves. But I have not come across this criticism against members.

Are you planning any other reforms for smooth conduct of business in the House?
We are planning another amendment about quorum. We have brought a rule making it mandatory for 1/10 of the total members to be present in the House before commencement of the day’s proceedings. A minimum 25 members must be present in the House of the total 225. We have also taken a decision to abolish two unnecessary committees and incorporate two new committees in their place.

There is a controversy over the proposed township for MLAs on plantation land. Why do you need a MLAs’ township when you have the Legislators Home to accommodate legislators?
There is nothing wrong in building a township for MLAs, on par with Judicial Layout and Officials Layout. We have identified the land. No plantation land was identified, it is vacant land which we have identified. No final decision has been taken yet, let us see. I and the Upper House Chairman have visited the place.

Have you identified suitable land for the Constitution Club for legislators?
We have decided to construct Constitution Club, the project estimate is also ready. A committee headed by the PWD Principal Secretary was constituted to prepare the plan. We have identified land near the Chief Minister’s residence, Cauvery. Two acres is available there, the labour quarters situated there will be demolished and alternative accommodation will be provided. Carlton House, presently occupied by CID, was also identified for the club but the proposal was rejected by the cabinet. We will once again move this proposal to hand over Carlton Towers to us, if it does not happen, the club will be constructed near the CM’s residence. If Carlton tower available it will be easy for legislators as it is only a walk away from Legislator’s Home.

When will be you submit your report to the government on lake encroachment in and around Bengaluru?
We will submit the report by December end. We have received the survey report on rajakaluves, however on the buffer zone, no specific decision was taken by the government. National Green Tribunal has defined the buffer zone for lakes but there is no fresh notification from the government on this zone.

What is the extent of lake encroachment in Bengaluru?
Nearly 10,000 acres of lake properties have been encroached upon. The Committee will decide about the penal action against encroachers. We will not touch the encroachments by the BDA and the BBMP. Even the government has constructed a few properties on lake bunds. We will bifurcate government and private encroachments in the report which will be no less than 10,000 pages. Nearly 7 to 8 pages have been dedicated to each lake, including its history and area of encroachment. More than 1,500 lakes are there. So the report will be voluminous.