Ranchi: Jharkhand Assembly speaker Ravindra Nath Mahto on Wednesday sought the cooperation of both treasury and the opposition for conducting the budget session, scheduled to begin from Friday, in a smooth manner. Chairing a meeting of the legislative party leaders at his office, Mahto requested the members to be mindful of the limited time available while reading out zero hour notices. “We are not going to increase the number of business days. We will deal with the pending notices of call attention motion in the first half of the session, ideally one hour before the regular session,” he said.
Mahto urged all the members to ensure that the pending issues are taken up during the budget session and time is not wasted in useless interruptions. “Our sessions have been affected due to the pandemic and when we are meeting after a long gap, every effort should be made to make the best use of the available time so that maximum issues related to the public are discussed,” he said.
Ranchi: A special committee of the Jharkhand assembly, formed to review the promotion of SC/ST candidates in government services, has recommended stern steps in not just allowing promotions to eligible officials on merit, but also reversing promotions granted to people of general category. The panel has also suggested punitive action against officials of various departments, including that of personnel and administrative reforms, who allowed such promotions against norms.
The committee has also asked filing of a case against such officials under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. “In 2008, senior officials from the SC/ST category were ignored during promotions and junior officers from the unreserved category were promoted. This wrong practice started so there is an urgent need for an impartial inquiry in the matter and those found guilty must be booked under SC/ST atrocities (prevention) Act,” the committee said.
Ranchi: The Jharkhand high court has vacated the stay on the suo motu proceedings initiated by Speaker Ravindra Nath Mahto against Babulal Marandi over the issue of ‘defection’. A division bench of Chief Justice Dr Ravi Ranjan and Justice Sujit Narayan Prasad was hearing a petition filed by Marandi on Tuesday when it lifted its earlier order that clamped a stay on the Speaker’s proceedings in the matter.
The division bench had heard the matter at length earlier on January 14 and reserved its order. The bench took note of the statement of the Speaker who in his affidavit had assured the court that he will not proceed against Marandi in the alleged defection matter. Earlier the Speaker had initiated the proceedings against Marandi on his own but on it being challenged before the high court, other legislators from ruling alliance made formal complaints against Marandi seeking prosecution from the Speaker’s office.
The curious case of Babulal Marandi
The former Jharkhand CM’s party merged with the BJP but is now mired in the anti-defection law
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UPDATED: December 15, 2020 22:07 IST
Senior BJP leader Babulal Marandi is greeted by party workers at the BJP headquarter, Ranchi, Jharkhand, Feb 18
Babulal Marandi is in a piquant situation. Jharkhand s main opposition party, the BJP, identifies him as the leader of its legislature party, but the assembly Secretariat has not designated him the position. Instead, the Jharkhand speaker is examining his case to see if it falls under the anti-defection law.
The confusion has persisted since February 2020 when Marandi, Jharkhand’s first CM, returned to the BJP, but his two other MLAs, Pradeep Yadav and Bandhu Tirkey, refused to come along. Instead, Yadav and Tirkey joined the Congress. While Marandi, 62, claimed his party, the Jharkhand Vikash Morcha (Prajatantrik) or JVM(P), has merged with the BJP, the other two MLAs announced th