House adjourned for 20 minutes over question paper leak

Thiruvananthapuram, Mar 8 (UNI) The Kerala Assembly was today adjourned for about 20 minutes following noisy scenes by the Opposition members during the Question Hour over the issue of leakage of the question papers of SSLC model examination.

The ruckus broke out towards the fag end of the Question Hour when Mr Anathalavattom Anandan of the (CPI(M) raised the issue of SSLC question paper leakage during the previous Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) Government's tenure.

Agitated UDF members trooped to the Well of the House shouting slogans alleging that the member was trying to divert attention from the real issue.

Following noisy scenes, Speaker K Radhakrishnan adjourned the House two minutes ahead of the scheduled time of the Question Hour.

The House resumed after 20 minutes.

The whole episode started when Sports Minister M Vijayakumar replying to questions on behalf of Education Minister M A Baby, about the recent SSLC model question paper leakage and subsequent actions taken for preventing the recurrence of lapses in the security of SSLC question papers.

The Minister informed the House that the government had ordered a Crime Branch inquiry into the incident and after receiving its report, stern action would be taken against the guilty.

He also said the government had taken all precautionary measures to ensure the safe movement of SSLC question papers by plugging all loopholes.

However, not satisfied with the answer, the Congress members insisted the Minister to disclose the details of the organisations which prepared the question papers, particularly the question paper which had leaked.

Meanwhile, Mr Anandan remarked that it was during the UDF tenure the SSLC question papers had been made ''available in the market'' at a cost of Rs 2,500, provoking the Opposition members to rush to the Well of the House.

Later, Leader of the Opposition Oommen Chandy urged the Speaker to protect the rights of both ruling and Opposition members in the Assembly. It was not a healthy procedure on the part of the Minister to evade answers in the House, he added.

Terming the incidents as ''unfortunate,'' Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said the incident could have been avoided.

UNI