Speaker aims to revolutionise House, Paperless Assembly by year-end

Newly elected Speaker of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly on Monday sought to bring in a revolutionary change in the way proceedings are conducted inside the House by setting a December-end deadline for a ‘paperless Assembly.’

In his first official meeting with the Assembly staff, Manohar, who is also presently the Chairman of the Legislature Committee on Wildlife Protection and Environment, said that the staff must ensure that his dream of turning the House into the country’s first ‘Paperless Assembly’ by December end turns into a reality.

“My aim is to enhance the confidence of the people in the House. By January, the Legislators will be briefed on how to bring the people’s issues to the notice of the House. The MLAs would also be trained in the paperless Assembly initiative, Mr Manohar said.

The Speaker also told the staff that the revolutionary changes in the functioning of the House will not be limited to inside the Assembly Hall.

He told the staff that their pending allowances for the extra hours that they had put in during the Budget Session would be cleared. “I would affix my signature to that file first,” Mr Manohar said, adding that vacant posts would also be filled.

“I urge you to bring to my notice any problems being faced by you. I will do my very best to find solutions for them,” the Speaker said.

The Speaker had visited the Centre for Good Governance on May 30, 2011 along with the Legislative Committee to study the IT needs for Legislators.

He had requested the Director General to prepare AP Legislature website which presents the information on the AP Legislature for the access of citizens and a system enabling the Legislators to know the status of pending petitions at any given point of time.

When asked to comment on the No Confidence Motion notice given by the Telugu Desam Party, Mr Manohar said that it was not brought to his table yet.

“I will take a decision when it comes to my notice,” he said.

Mr Manohar also said that the notices issued against various MLAs for their disqualifications would be studied and action taken according to existing rules and regulations.