Niranjan flays Speaker’s decision not to allow discussion on Shah Commission Report

Uncategorized
Bhubaneswar: Senior Congress leader Niranjan Patnaik has
flayed the decision of the Odisha Assembly Speaker not to permit an
opposition-sponsored adjournment motion on the full ramifications of the Shah
Panel Report on the Odisha Mining Scam.
The first two volumes of the justice Shah Commission’s
report came to public light only last week and therefore the issue is of
immediate public importance. How could the Shah Commission report have been
discussed earlier, when the report became public only now? If the Government
has courage let them say that the report published in the website last week is
not genuine. But, if the report is genuine then a full discussion must be held.
Why else should there be an Assembly in the State, Patnaik said in a Press
release.
Patnaik said that the first two volumes of the justice Shah
Commission’s report came to public light only last week and therefore the issue
is of immediate public importance. How could the Shah Commission report have
been discussed earlier, when the report became public only now? If the
Government has courage let them say that the report published in the website
last week is not genuine. But, if the report is genuine then a full discussion
must be held. Why else should there be an Assembly in the State?
Patnaik said that the argument that there is nothing immediate
is a phony logic advanced to shelter the Chief Minister and the BJD Government.
If mining scam, which is the biggest corruption case in Odisha history, does
not deserve to be discussed through an adjournment motion, then there is
unfortunately something drastically wrong about the way parliamentary
procedures are understood by the Speaker and the Government. Such media expose
have been the basis of adjournment motion time and again and the Speaker should
follow laid down convention. It is a matter of privilege of the State Assembly
to discuss any such report on affairs relating to Odisha without waiting for
anything that the Union Parliament may do.
For a long time the BJD has been claiming to be running an
honest Government. The Shah Commission in Pages 112 to 115 of its first report
made a severe indictment of the Government under the heading ‘Corruption’
leaving behind no manner of doubt that during 2008 to 2011 there was large
scale plundering of the wealth of the state in broad day light because of a
conspiracy involving political leaders. BJD has been in office for the last 15
years and cannot claim that anyone else prevented them from stopping the loot
that was taking place under their nose, the Congress leader said.
Patnaik added that the Government obviously wants to avoid
any expose before the next election. The senior leader has suggested that the
combined opposition should force the Government to agree to a comprehensive
discussion on the Shah Commission report in the Assembly.
The argument that there is nothing immediate is a phony
logic advanced to shelter the Chief Minister and the BJD Government. If mining
scam, which is the biggest corruption case in Odisha history, does not deserve
to be discussed through an adjournment motion, then there is unfortunately
something drastically wrong about the way parliamentary procedures are
understood by the Speaker and the Government. Such media expose have been the
basis of adjournment motion time and again and the Speaker should follow laid
down convention. It is a matter of privilege of the State Assembly to discuss
any such report on affairs relating to Odisha without waiting for anything that
the Union Parliament may do.
For a long time the BJD has been claiming to be running an
honest Government. The Shah Commission in Pages 112 to 115 of its first report
made a severe indictment of the Government under the heading ‘Corruption’
leaving behind no manner of doubt that during 2008 to 2011 there was large
scale plundering of the wealth of the state in broad day light because of a
conspiracy involving political leaders. The question is who are these political
leaders. BJD has been in office for the last 15 years and cannot claim that
anyone else prevented them from stopping the loot that was taking place under
their nose.  The Government of Andhra
Pradesh suo moto handed over mining scam in their state to the C.B.I. for
investigation. Now the BJD Government does not even want to discuss the Shah
Commission report that has concluded that the investigation by the State
vigilance lacks credibility and recommended C.B.I. investigation. Is it in
Odisha’s interest that the guilty goes unpunished? For a while the BJD kept
denying that the Commission has indicted any political leader or that it has
recommended C.B.I. investigation. They were even saying that the Commission has
expressed satisfaction by action initiated by them. Now that the truth is
known, people of Odisha have a right to be told about this saga of systematic
plundering of their wealth.
Patnaik suggested that the combined opposition should force
the Government to agree to a comprehensive discussion on the Shah Commission
report in the Assembly.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *