Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 27 Keralam Chief Minister V D Satheesan on Tuesday said the government would seriously consider putting in place a mechanism to ensure time-bound action on reports submitted by Assembly committees, following concerns over files remaining pending for decades.
Responding to a submission by Congress MLA V T Balram in the Assembly, Satheesan acknowledged that the existing system was inadequate and said the government would discuss the matter with Speaker Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan and take appropriate steps.
“The government will seriously consider establishing a mechanism through which reports of Assembly committees are dealt with the seriousness they deserve,” Satheesan said.
Balram, who chairs the Estimates Committee, said several files being examined by the panel dated back to 2010 and 2011.
Despite the efforts of legislators and hundreds of Assembly staff members, the reports prepared by these committees often failed to lead to meaningful action, he said.
“Despite all this hard work, detailed preparation and submission of reports, meaningful action is often not taken on those reports,” Balram said.
He pointed out that the Assembly had 37 committees, including 14 Subject Committees, four Finance Committees and 19 Welfare Committees.
While ministers chair the Subject Committees, giving them a mechanism to ensure the implementation of decisions, the other committees faced difficulties in getting their recommendations acted upon, he said.
According to Balram, when committees sought information from government departments, replies often took one to two years to arrive.
If further clarification was required, the process could take several more years, leaving old files pending without resolution.
The delay continued even after the committees submitted their reports, as action taken on their recommendations and subsequent clarifications also took an excessive amount of time, he said.
Balram urged the chief minister to establish a special cell in the Secretariat to coordinate with departments and ensure timely action on the recommendations of Assembly committees.
The MLA said the initiative required political will, as officials might be reluctant to accept additional responsibilities that increased their workload and accountability.
Satheesan said the existing Secretariat Manual and Rules of Business assigned the handling of matters to the respective government departments. However, he agreed that the present arrangements were not sufficient to address the delays pointed out by Balram.
He said the relationship between the Legislative Assembly Secretariat and the State Secretariat needed to be strengthened, even if amendments to the Secretariat Manual and Rules of Business were required.
The chief minister assured the House that the government would seriously consider introducing a dedicated mechanism to ensure that committee reports received proper attention and were acted upon within a reasonable time.
Speaker Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan also drew attention to the large number of outdated files pending before Assembly committees, some dating back 15, 20 or even 25 years.
He said examining such old records often amounted to a waste of time and that delays could defeat the purpose of inquiries.
In some cases, those who were found responsible for irregularities might have retired by the time the findings were acted upon.
The Speaker suggested that the House could discuss a committee report during an Assembly session after making the necessary changes to the Rules of Business.
He said the issue needed to be examined jointly to make the functioning of the committees more effective.
Satheesan agreed and said the Rules of Business already contained a provision that could be amended to facilitate discussions on committee reports in the Assembly.
He said a report could be taken up for detailed discussion during the next session.
Recalling his experience as chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Satheesan referred to cases that had remained pending for nearly 20 years, including matters arising from audit reports.
He said that, during his tenure as PAC chairman, the committee had adopted a collective approach involving members and officials to clear old cases.
Regular sittings were held, and decisions were taken to dispose of pending matters, except those that were recent, he said.
Satheesan said the respective committees needed to take the initiative to clear pending files through closer scrutiny and cooperation with officials. Where necessary, committees could hold continuous sittings for two or three days to examine cases and take decisions.
He warned that excessive delays could make corrective action meaningless, as those involved might have retired long before the cases were taken up.
The chief minister said several changes had been introduced in the PAC during his tenure and expressed confidence that other committees could also improve their functioning by taking similar initiatives.
(PTI News)
