Panaji: Goa Speaker Pratapsinh Rane has reconstituted the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that was looking into the illegal mining scam in the state and has dropped Opposition leader Manohar Parrikar as its head. Vijay Pai Khot, a BJP MLA from South Goa, has replaced Mr Parrikar.
On Friday, the last day of Goa Assembly's session, the Speaker had refused to the table the report on illegal mining prepared by Mr Parrikar. The report indicts Chief Minister Digambar Kamat for being "a silent spectator" to "rampant illegal mining" in the state.
The decision led to a faceoff between the Speaker and Mr Parrikar. Justifying his stand, Mr Rane said he needed more time to study the report. But Mr Parrikar refused to buy his explanation and quoted the rule book to say that the Speaker could not stop the report from being tabled. "It is not the Speaker who is supreme, the House is," he contended. He also pointed to what he called a "conflict of interest." The Speaker, he said, had condoned 29 of 40 cases of delay in mining leases when he was a Minister of Mines between 1995 and 1998. The BJP leader said the Speaker thus should have recused himself from deciding on whether the report on mining could be tabled.
"Nonsense, a bunch of nonsense", said Speaker Rane, in so many words. On Thursday, in significant reprieve for the Goa government, Mr Rane had said that the report drafted by the PAC could only be treated as "a draft report." This, the Speaker said, because four out the seven members of the PAC had written to him saying they were not in favour of the report and so had not signed it. "I am studying whether the report can be tabled (in the Assembly). If the majority of the members have not signed it, then it's a draft report, not a final report," Mr Rane told NDTV.
Mr Parrikar, however, insisted that "It is not necessary for all to sign; if they do well and good, if they don't then the report can still be tabled."
The PAC's term was over, so technically the Speaker has gone by the rules, but the haste with which the committee has been reconstituted has raised many eyebrows. Mr Parrikar claims the opposition was not consulted.
The PAC report indirectly faults Digambar Kamat, the Chief Minister, who has handled the Mining portfolio for 12 years. It refers to a collusion between politicians, bureaucrats and forest officials and finds that huge quantities of iron ore have been exported illegally from Goa; companies running mines have operated in reserved forest areas and in violation of wildlife laws.
The report was submitted by Mr Parrikar to the Speaker on Wednesday. The four members of the PAC who refused to sign it because they disagreed with its findings include three Congress MLAs and one from Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party.
On Friday, the last day of Goa Assembly's session, the Speaker had refused to the table the report on illegal mining prepared by Mr Parrikar. The report indicts Chief Minister Digambar Kamat for being "a silent spectator" to "rampant illegal mining" in the state.
The decision led to a faceoff between the Speaker and Mr Parrikar. Justifying his stand, Mr Rane said he needed more time to study the report. But Mr Parrikar refused to buy his explanation and quoted the rule book to say that the Speaker could not stop the report from being tabled. "It is not the Speaker who is supreme, the House is," he contended. He also pointed to what he called a "conflict of interest." The Speaker, he said, had condoned 29 of 40 cases of delay in mining leases when he was a Minister of Mines between 1995 and 1998. The BJP leader said the Speaker thus should have recused himself from deciding on whether the report on mining could be tabled.
"Nonsense, a bunch of nonsense", said Speaker Rane, in so many words. On Thursday, in significant reprieve for the Goa government, Mr Rane had said that the report drafted by the PAC could only be treated as "a draft report." This, the Speaker said, because four out the seven members of the PAC had written to him saying they were not in favour of the report and so had not signed it. "I am studying whether the report can be tabled (in the Assembly). If the majority of the members have not signed it, then it's a draft report, not a final report," Mr Rane told NDTV.
Mr Parrikar, however, insisted that "It is not necessary for all to sign; if they do well and good, if they don't then the report can still be tabled."
The PAC's term was over, so technically the Speaker has gone by the rules, but the haste with which the committee has been reconstituted has raised many eyebrows. Mr Parrikar claims the opposition was not consulted.
The PAC report indirectly faults Digambar Kamat, the Chief Minister, who has handled the Mining portfolio for 12 years. It refers to a collusion between politicians, bureaucrats and forest officials and finds that huge quantities of iron ore have been exported illegally from Goa; companies running mines have operated in reserved forest areas and in violation of wildlife laws.
The report was submitted by Mr Parrikar to the Speaker on Wednesday. The four members of the PAC who refused to sign it because they disagreed with its findings include three Congress MLAs and one from Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party.
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