Kadam to move court over ULC motion, will seek legal opinion

Nagpur, Nov 28 (UNI) Leader of the Opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Ramdas Kadam has said that he would approach the court of law against the government's decision to initiate a discussion on the repeal of the provisions of the Urban Land Ceiling (ULC) Act without taking the House into confidence.

Speaking to newspersons in the Council Hall premises here this evening, Mr Kadam said he would consult his lawyers in this regard.

Mr Kadam said that Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh had given an undertaking to the Centre on October 7, 2006, about the repeal of the ULC Act's provisions in Maharashtra without taking the legislative assembly into confidence. ''The Chief Minister did not take the House into confidence before making such commitment. This shows that the Chief Minister takes the House for granted,'' he said.

Article 252 (1) and (2) of the Indian Constitution prevented the Union Government from imposing any kind of conditions on the state governments, Mr Kadam said. Therefore, the resolution on ULC, pending before the House now, was unconstitutional, he said. It was on this ground that he had opposed the discussion in the House this morning, and had brought this to the notice of the Speaker during the discussion in the last session also, the Leader of the Opposition said.

Criticising the government for making an issue of the withdrawal of a question by Shiv Sena members, Mr Kadam said it was the right of a legislator to do so. Members from the treasury benches deliberately created a ruckus in the House as the government wanted to rush through with the approval of Rs 4,800 crore worth of supplementary demands, he alleged.

The sloganeering by the ruling alliance members was inappropriate because Speaker Babasaheb Kupekar had already given his ruling on the issue, Mr Kadam said, and claimed that the Speaker had announced the formation of a committee of senior members of the House to probe the issue. The ruling or decision of the presiding officer was never challenged, he pointed out.

Eknath Khadse, the leader of the BJP group in the House, alleged that the ruckus was deliberate. It was a ploy by Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil, who also holds the Home portfolio, to ''expose'' Mr Kupekar, Mr Khadse said, adding that Mr Patil and Mr Kupekar had ''very cordial'' relations. ''Mr Patil is upset that Mr Kupekar showed the Home Department in bad light by revealing that it had not replied to four letters from the Speaker. Mr Patil is now getting back at Mr Kupekar,'' he alleged.

UNI