Speaker R Ramesh Kumar strips Assembly Secretary of administrative powers

Bengaluru: Following a series of complaints that administrative procedures were not been followed, Speaker R Ramesh Kumar has stripped Assembly Secretary Mr K Murthy of his administrative powers. In an order, Mr Ramesh Kumar directed Mr Murthy to take care of only duties pertaining to the Assembly Session and also attend to protocol matters concerning dignitaries visiting the state. Besides, Mr Murthy has been directed to hand over all the files in his custody to the concerned sections with immediate effect.

All administrative files shall be routed to the office of the Speaker by the Director of the Legislative Assembly, with utmost integrity after careful scrutiny of facts and figures, Mr Ramesh Kumar noted. The Speaker, who went through a series of complaints against Mr Murthy, noted that the events in the recent past had put matters concerning the Assembly Secretariat in the limelight for the wrong reasons. Any delay in corrective action could be detrimental to the Assembly as an Institution and the government as a whole, he said.

Considering the series of complaints against the Assembly Secretary, received over a considerable period of time and the observations made by the Secretary in the files presented to the Speaker's office, it was felt that the individual holding the highest position in the Assembly Secretariat could be misled due to ignorance about administrative procedures, with which the Secretary should have been conversant, Mr Ramesh Kumar pointed out.