Thiruvananthapuram: The government on Thursday introduced an amendment Bill to exempt the chairman of Administrative Reforms Commission from the ambit of offices of profit with a view to appoint CPM leader V.S. Achuthanandan to the post. Speaker P. Sreeramakrishnan rejected the Opposition allegation that the spirit of the Constitution was being diluted by the amendment, and referred the Legislative Assembly (Removal of Disqualification) Amendment Bill to the subject committee.
The Opposition alleged that the government was misleading the House by mentioning in the Bill that there would not be any expenditure from the consolidated fund of the government. But Law Minister A.K. Balan, who introduced the Bill, maintained that it was just to avoid disqualification of any MLA if appointed as ARC chairman and that it did not include the formation of the commission. Hence, there won't be any financial burden on the exchequer, he said.
Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala and other Opposition MLAs quipped that the Bill was intended to politically sideline Mr Achuthanandan after winning the elections under his leadership. The treasury benches countered the charge by citing a similar amendment Bill passed by the previous UDF government for the chief whip post.
