Budget day rampage: MLA actions remain unaccounted

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: On March 13, 2015, opposition MLAs had gone on a rampage, vandalising what Governor P Sathasivam called the sanctum sanctorum of democracy in their bid to prevent then finance minister K.M. Mani from presenting the budget. The total loss, besides the stain inflicted on democracy, was estimated to be Rs 2.2 lakh. However, one-and-a-half years later, the state government has not completed the enquiry into the March 13 incident nor has it done anything to recover, or even write off, the damages done to public property. One of the members pulled up for the act, E.P. Jayarajan, is now industries minister.

A probe had been initiated into the Budget Day violence under various sections of the IPC Act and Prevention of Destruction of Public Properties (PDDP) Act after a complaint was lodged by the legislature secretary before the DGP and the Museum station. In a reply furnished to M.T. Thomas, member of National Commission for the Protection of Right to Information (NCPRI), the legislative Secretariat has stated that the probe was being carried out by Crime Branch DySP. “It is pity that no action has been taken by the Government for completion of the enquiry proceedings and for the recovery of the amount,” Mr Thomas said.
He said that if the incident had been related to an ordinary citizen, the government would have acted long back for recovery of the amount. He said that the amount would in all probability written off.

“Since VIPs are involved, no attempt has been made even after one and a half years to recover the amount,” he said and asked: “Does it mean that the rules of the country are not applicable to the MLAs.” The legal position, he said, was that there was no constitutional exemption for MLAs from criminal cases. The destruction of the mike unit had caused the biggest loss, of Rs 1.46 lakh. The damage to the Speaker's chair which was thrown down by E.P. Jayarajan has been estimated at Rs 20,000.