Plaint against Kerala minister to be forward to ethics panel

CONGRESS MLA V D SATHEESHAN HAD MOVED A NOTICE AGAINST FINANCE MINISTER T M THOMAS ISAAC FOR MAKING PUBLIC THE DETAILS OF THE DRAFT

CAG REPORT

In a first in the state, the Kerala Assembly Speaker on Wednesday forwarded the breach of privilege notice moved by the opposition Congress against finance minister T M Thomas Isaac to the ethics committee of the House.

Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan said he had forwarded the notice, moved by Congress MLA V D Satheeshan, along with the reply filed by the minister, for the consideration of the Privileges and Ethics Committee of the state Assembly.

Satheeshan had moved a notice against the minister for making public the details of the draft CAG report before it was tabled in the Assembly.

“Privilege and ethics committee of the Assembly will take further decision. We have handed over the breach of privilege notice and the Minister’s reply to the notice to the committee,” Sreeramakrishnan said.

The Speaker said there are certain important issues mentioned in the complaint of the opposition MLA and other serious matters pointed out by the Minister and both need to be addressed by the committee.

“Since the formation of the state, this is probably the first time, such an issue has come up. The minister has pointed out that this was not just a matter of breach of privilege of the Assembly but there are certain unprecedented-situations with regard to the CAG report. So let the committee take a decision in a democratic manner after hearing both the sides,” the Speaker said.

Isaac had appeared before the Speaker on Monday.

The opposition had alleged that Isaac had infringed on the rights of the House by disclosing details of the CAG’s audit 2018-19 report of Kerala Infrastructure Investment Board (KIIFB) to the media before it was tabled in the Assembly.