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Jaipur, 7 June (HS). Rajasthan Assembly Speaker Vasudev Devnani has said that the executive will have to be accountable to the legislature. For the last few years, the executive is not taking legislative work seriously. Negligence in legislative work by the executive will not be tolerated. Devnani said that all officers should ensure that the answers to the questions, attention and special mention proposals being asked by the MLAs are sent to the assembly within the stipulated time limit.
Assembly Speaker Devnani on Friday convened a high level meeting of senior officials including the Chief Secretary of the State Government in the Assembly. Additional Chief Secretary, Principal Secretary to Government, Secretary to Government and administrative officials of various departments were present in the meeting. Devnani said that before the commencement of the next session of the 16th Assembly, answers to all the questions, attention and special mention proposals asked in the previous session must be received. Devnani expressed concern over non-receipt of answers to more than five thousand questions of the 15th Assembly and conducted a department-wise review. Devnani met the officials of eight departments, Medical and Health, Mines, Urban Development and Housing, Revenue, Education, Self-Governance, Public Works Department and Higher Education Department, which had pending answers to more questions, and sought information from them about the reasons for non-receipt of answers to the questions. He expressed displeasure over non-receipt of answers to 1056 questions in the Medical Department. Devnani said that administrative officials should also take the proceedings of the committees of the Assembly seriously so that timely action can be taken against the guilty officials on audit parameters.
Devnani said that due to the efforts of the Chief Secretary, answers to 1940 questions, 274 attention motions and 85 special mention motions have come in the last four months. Thus, understanding the seriousness of the work, maintain the continuity of progress. Devnani said that all the senior administrative officers of the state should understand the seriousness of the assembly work. He said that the MLAs are accountable to the public. The functioning of the assembly is important. For democracy, it is necessary for the state government to reply to the questions asked by the MLAs in the assembly on time. The officers are accountable for the answers to the questions to come on time. Do not let any kind of laxity happen in this work. It is the responsibility of the senior officers to keep a constant watch and follow the time limit.
Devnani asked the officials what is the difficulty in sending answers to the questions? Why are the answers to the questions pending? At which level the work of the Vidhansabha is not being taken seriously. He said that I am pained that the answers to the questions are not coming within the stipulated time limit. It is sad that despite the Vidhansabha cell being operational in every department, the answers to the questions are not coming. Devnani said that the purpose of the work of the state government and the Vidhansabha is the same. The answers to the questions being asked by the MLAs should come within the stipulated time limit. He said that the officials of the state government and the Vidhansabha should jointly resolve the difficulties being faced in answering the questions and ensure that the answers to the questions are sent on time.
Devnani said that people are important in democracy. It is the collective responsibility of all of us to maintain the faith of the people in democracy. You and all of us are working together for the development of the state for democracy. There should not be any kind of negligence in this work. Devnani said that strict action will be taken against the officers and employees who show laxity in any work related to the functioning of the assembly. The Speaker of the Assembly said that the difficulties of the state government are the difficulties of all of us. But we will have to find solutions to those difficulties together. Everyone will have to make efforts for this. Answer all the questions on time. In the sixteenth assembly, everyone has to set an example that the answer to any question of the assembly should not remain pending. Devnani requested the officers to work in such a way that they do not have to call a meeting in future in relation to the answers to questions, attention and special mention proposals.
Devnani said that all of you should be aware of democracy. It is the responsibility of the officers to ensure timely implementation of activities necessary for the functioning of democracy. All should fulfill their duties towards the state government with honesty and integrity in discipline. All should run the system in the right manner as per the rules. Devnani said that the annual report and annual audit accounts of every department should be sent to the assembly on time as per the rules. The officers will have to discharge their state responsibilities with honesty so that there is no hindrance in the activities of democracy. Considering the request of the Additional Chief Secretary of the Medical and Health Department to extend the time, Devnani said that the answers to the pending questions related to the 15th assembly must be sent to the assembly by 30 September. Also, all the officers should ensure that the answers to the questions, attention and special mention proposals of the 16th assembly are sent before the start of the new session.
In the meeting, Chief Secretary Sudhanshu Pant informed that from February to May, eight review meetings have been held with senior officials of the departments in relation to questions and other points related to the Vidhan Sabha. 66 percent answers have been sent regarding the 16th Vidhan Sabha. He said that the officers of all the departments will maintain the continuity of disposal of works related to the Vidhan Sabha in future also with tireless efforts. All the officers including the Chief Secretary said that they all respect the legislature. In the beginning, the Principal Secretary of the Vidhan Sabha Mahavir Prasad Sharma welcomed the officers and gave a department-wise presentation of the actual status of the questions, attention motions and special mention motions of the 16th, 15th and 14th Vidhan Sabha till 4 pm on June 6.