Taking serious note of the trend of thin attendance of MLAs in the Assembly in the last several legislative sessions, Speaker U.T. Khader is considering a proposal to recommend to the government to cut the MLAs’ local area development grants if they fail to meet a minimum of 70 per cent attendance.
“It is the duty of MLAs to attend the legislature session and represent the people of their constituency as well as that of the State. It is not good on their part to abstain from the legislature,” Mr. Khader told The Hindu after the Winter Session of the State legislature that was held recently in Belagavi.
The speaker confirmed that already a round of consultations with the government had been held on the proposal to link the release of local area development grants of MLAs with their legislature attendance.
It may be noted that even in the just concluded session of the legislature, the Assembly witnessed thin attendance of members. In fact, there were days when hardly 60 to 70 MLAs turned up at the session in the 224-member House.
While there are concerns about declining standards in the legislature debates, the absence of members is viewed more seriously, as the presence of members is crucial to improving the legislature debates and finding solutions to various problems gripping the State.
