The Hindu : Joshi to open presiding officers' meet

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jun 18, 2002

Southern States

Southern States - Karnataka

Joshi to open presiding officers' meet

By Our Special Correspondent

Bangalore June 17. The question has arisen whether all the sessions of the coming 65th Conference of Presiding Officers of the two Houses of Parliament and the various State legislatures will be open to the Press.

The conference is being held here from June 19 to 22. The Lok Sabha Speaker, Manohar Joshi, will inaugurate the conference.

The Bangalore Press corps had taken for granted that all the sessions would be open to them on the analogy that all the sittings of the two Houses of Parliament and those of the State legislatures are open to journalists. Only the meetings of the committees attached to the parliamentary bodies are closed to journalists. However, their reports are made available to the Press after they are presented to Parliament or the State legislatures. Moreover, the conference will not discuss anything that can be deemed sensitive.

The coming session is being organised by the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha secretariats with the secretariats of the two Houses of the State Legislatures only playing host.

According to information available so far, only two of the sessions of the conference will be open to journalists -- the inauguration of the conference on June 20 and a symposium on "Terrorism --Threat to civil society and security of democratic institutions" to be inaugurated by the Chief Minister, S.M.Krishna, on June 22. The Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, M.V.Venkatappa, and the Chairman of the Legislative Council, B.L.Shankar, told presspersons here today that senior officials of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha secretariats would decide which of the sessions should be thrown open to the Press.

For instance on June 21, the conference will have a session on "Role of legislatures in strengthening accountability and need for independent secretariat for legislatures," which is of interest to the public at large.

For the seniors among Bangalore journalists who cover the State legislature, it will be a throwback to the days of the Emergency as the Press gallery in the State Assembly chambers which is to the left of the Speaker's ornate podium, is being shifted temporarily to the main gallery overlooking the podium. After Emergency was clamped on June 25, 1975, the Press gallery in the State Assembly was shifted to the gallery and there was censorship of newspaper reports on the deliberations. For instance, only the names of the Opposition members could be mentioned and not any of their critical remarks. After the Emergency was lifted in March 1977, the Press gallery was back to its old place.

Both the Houses of the State legislature are unique as they have provided for the Press galleries at the same level as the two Houses.

Only rosewood barricades divide the journalists from the members (Opposition benches). It is unlike in the case of the two Houses of Parliament where the Press sits in the galleries along with the visitors. Those who designed the Vidhana Soudha and the two legislature chambers have scored over the British architect, Baker, who planned the circular Parliament House, designed for the Central Legislature in Lutyens' New Delhi.

It may be recalled that during the days of the Emergency, the Feroze Gandhi Act of 1956 applicable to Parliament and similar legislation applicable to the State legislatures which give protection to the Press with regard to coverage of parliamentary and legislature proceedings had been revoked.

The Press did not enjoy any immunity for even truthful and fair reports of the proceedings if they criticised the Government. They could not report on the defection of the acting Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, H.T.Krishnappa, to the Congress led by Indira Gandhi. Mr. Venkatappa and Mr. Shankar explained that the Press gallery had to be shifted to the visitors' galleries as they would be cordoning off the areas to the left and right of the Speaker's podium.

The officials' gallery is to the right of the Speaker.

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