Minority status rocks State Assembly

Thiruvananthapuram, June 28 : The alleged failure on the part of the government to present its stand on time before the National Commission for Minority Educational Insitutions on granting minority status to six self-financing professional colleges in the state rocked the Kerala Assembly for the second day today leading to an Opposition walkout.

Rising on a point of order, Leader of the Opposition Oommen Chandy alleged that the government failed to convey its views on the issue to the Commission before it took the decision granting minority status to the six institutions.

He said the Commission had not received any communication from the government before June 20 when it decided to grant minority status to the institutions. What the government did was that it sent a fax message on June 23 bearing the date of June 14 requesting one month's time to decide the government stand on the issue.

Replying to the Opposition arguements, Education Minister M A Baby admitted serious lapse on the part of some officials in sending the message to the Commission on time.

He assured the House that deterrent action would be taken against the officials concerned for their failure to send the communication to the Commission on time after an enquiry.

His reply did not satisfy the Opposition members and Mr Chandy led them out of the House alleging that the governmnet acted in an irresponsible manner on the issue.

The House witnessed heated arguemnets between the ruling and opposition members for not allowing Kerala Congress (M) leader K M Mani to make a statement before staging the walkout.

UNI