Displeased with the carefree attitude of ministers and officials listed to be present for a day’s proceedings at Legislative Council, Chairman Basavaraj Horatti has threatened to take action against them. Horatti was irked by the repeated absence of some officials and ministers.
“Ministers don’t come to the session for free. They are paid to be present in the house,” Horatti said, adding that he would meet the Chief Secretary and ask him to issue strict directions to officials. The issue was raised for the second consecutive time after Horatti had warned ministers and officials for being absent on Friday. “We will have to take action against absentee officials. If officials feel that they can do what they want to, why should we run this House?” Horatti asked.
Ministers were spared the wrath of the Chairman, as most of the ministers required to answer queries in the house, attended the morning session. Yet, of the listed ministers, G Parameshwara, G T Devegowda, Priyank Kharge, Sa Ra Mahesh, N H Shivashankara Reddy and C S Puttaraju, only three were present in the morning session.
The officials in the list included Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation Limited MD Ajay Seth, Water Resources Department’s BG Gurupadaswamy, Transport Department’s B Basavaraju and Law Department’s N C Srinivas. Following the warning, Chief Secretary participated in the Council proceedings for a brief period.
