Legislative Assembly Speaker Kagodu Thimmappa on Wednesday said that any failure on the part of any official or State government organisation to invite MLAs, MLCs or MPs to government functions would amount to breach of privilege.
What prompted him to say this in the House was a complaint by Hampanagouda Badarli and Shakuntala Shetty (both Congress) that they were not invited to government functions organised by urban local bodies and some departments.
Mr. Badarli said the Channalli Gram Panchayat in Sindhanoor Assembly constituency passed a resolution recently not to invite any legislators to its functions.
Angered by this, Mr. Thimmappa told him to send a notice to him for the breach of his privilege by the gram panchayat and he would initiate action against the gram panchayat.
On the notice sent by Ms. Shetty to him on a similar issue, the Speaker told her that the official concerned had apologised for the lapse and promised that such mistakes would not recur. In view of this, he advised Ms. Shetty not to press for action on her notice and said that his warning would send a clear message to such officials. He issued a general direction to panchayat institutions and government departments and agencies through the media to invite legislators to their official functions and avoid such complaints.
(The Hindu)
