The State Government was in favor of setting up of various Standing Committees of the Legislature, similar to the Parliamentary Committees, to ensure ‘Accountability’ and ‘Transparency’ in its rule.
The Rules Committees of the Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council have met in the Assembly Committee Hall here on Monday under the Chairmanship of Assembly Speaker Nadendla Manohar. Council Chairman Dr Chakraparni members D Sridhar Babu (Civil Supplies and Assembly Affairs Minsiter), Anam Ramanarayana Reddy (Finance Minister), Government Chief Whip Gandra Venkataramana Reddy, P Kista Reddy, Yadava Reddy, BV Mohan Reddy, Ravula Chandrashekar Reddy, Sandra Venkata Veeraiah, K Taraka Ramarao, Akbaruddin Owaisi, Jelly Wilson attended the Meeting.
After the meeting, Sridhar Babu has said that the State Government, in 2009, had showed its interest in setting up of Standing Committees similar to Parliament panels following advises of the Opposition parties.
The Assembly Speaker and Council Chairman have studied the Committees working in various states like Kerala, Assam, West Bengal etc. The Committee discussed about the working style of Standing Committees in various states and decided to take a decision to see the Standing Committees to be set up in the State are to be ahead when compared to the other States’ Standing Committees.
Sridhar Babu said that the Government was ready to work in transparency and with accountability.
Asked whether the Committees will overplay on Government, he said that the Assembly is supreme in the State and the Parliament is supreme in the country. “There should not be any clash between the Committees and Government”, he said.
TDP senior MLA Ravula has said that his party welcomes the Rules Committee’s decision. He said that the Government should not reduce the working days of the Assembly in the name of Standing Committees. He also said that TDP favours appointment of the heads to the Standing Committees other than Ministers. “There is no use if the Ministers headed the Committees like in Kerala State”, he said. He said that the TDP has advised the Rules Committee to examine the working style of Standing Committees of Kerala, Assam and West Bengal. He hoped that the Standing Committees would help the Government to work with transparency and accountability.
He demanded the State Government to bring the Budget and Bills under the Standing Committees to see that there should be fruitful discussion to be held on them.