Uproar in Odisha Assembly over appointment of President in College Committees

30 March, Bhubaneswar

The Odisha Assembly today witnessed uproarious scenes during the question hour over the appointment of Presidents in private plus two and plus three college Managing Committees.

Speaker Niranjan Pujari was forced to adjourn the house from 1125 hrs till 1250 hrs as opposition Congress and BJP members trooped into the well and disrupted the proceedings of the house alleging that the ruling BJD candidates who unsuccessfully contested the last Assembly elections were appointed as Presidents of the plus two and three college Managing committees.

The clarification of Higher Education Minister Pradip Panigrahi that persons who have interest in education were appointed as Presidents as per law failed to satisfy the aggrieved opposition members.The issue cropped up while the Minister was replying to a question of Mr Chiraneev Biswal (Cong) on the amount of central assistance received by the state during 2014-15 and 2015-16 under the Rashtriya Uchatar Sikhya Abhijan (RUSA).

During the discussion Mr Biswal alleged that the developmental activities in the colleges have come to a grinding halt as defeated candidates of the Presidents of plus two and plus three college managing committees were making contradictory statements.He said the issue was also raised in the house during the last session of the Assembly and the Minister had assured that the elected MLAs would head the managing committees of colleges in their respective areas but it has not yet been implemented.

Biswal was supported by his party colleague Tara Prasad Bahinipati and BJP member Pradip Purohit.BJP Legislature Party leader K V Singh Deo demanded that the copy of the Act be circulated among the members and the Minister must clarify whether there has been any provision in the Act to appoint the defeated leaders as College managing committee Presidents.

The Congress and the BJP members then rushed to the well and shouted slogans demanding a clarification from the Minister.The house soon plunged in to a chaotic situation and Treasury bench members Samir Ranjan Das, Pravat Biswal and Rajendra Sahu vociferously countered the opposition and amidst din nothing was audible.

Sensing the trouble the Speaker adjourned the house at 1125 hrs till 1250 hrs. The matter was later subsided and when the house reassembled after the adjournment, the members participated in the Special mention business of the House.