State to have 10-day Legislature Session from Jan 6
From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore
Bangalore, Dec 24: After dropping the proposal to hold the Legislature session in the border district of Belgaum, the state cabinet has decided to hold a 10-day session of the Karnataka Legislature in Bangalore from January 6.
With results of the ongoing taluk and zilla panchayat elections expected on January 4, the forthcoming legislature session would provide the ideal opportunity for the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress and BJP to have a slug-fest in the state legislature against each other. The recent spate of scams involving the chief minister and his family members and several ministers are expected to dominate the legislature session.
The State Cabinet which met on Friday decided to hold a 10-day State Legislature session from January 6, which would commence with a joint session with governor H R Bhardwaj addressing members of both the houses.
Given the convention that the Governor has to read out the speech vetted and approved by the state cabinet, it remains to be seen whether the Yeddyurappa regime would force Bhardwaj to praise the Government on its various programmes and decisions, including the one on the appointment of the Justice Padmaraj judicial inquiry commission into the alleged land scams.
It may be recalled that the Goverrnor had publicly expressed his preference for a probe by the Karnataka Lokayukta Justice N Santhosh Hegde rather than appointment of the judicial commission headed by a retired high court judge under the Commissions of Inquiry Act 1956.
The State Cabinet, at its meeting presided over by the Chief Minister, decided to grant 20 acres of University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS), Bangalore, at Hebbal for construction of residential quarters for judges.
Former vice-chancellors of the university have been opposing the allocation of prime agricultural lands for construction of quarters for judges.
The State Cabinet decided to set up the Karnataka State Industrial Security Force (KSISF), on the lines of Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) at the national level, to provide integrated security cover to public sector undertakings, airports, seaports, power plants, major educational institutions, and sensitive government establishments and heritage monuments.
The SKISF would be established at a cost of around Rs 27 crore in the first phase, would initially have personnel strength of 1060, official sources said.
It may be recalled that the CISF was established in 1969 to provide security cover to the public sector undertakings and major government buildings.
It also approved application of cadres and recruitment (C&R) rules for minority department of the State. Absence of rules led to deputation of a large number of officials from other department to the Minority Department.