The police sub-inspectors' (PSI) recruitment scam made noise in the Assembly for the first time as the ruling BJP clashed with the Congress over an adjournment motion seeking a discussion on the issue on Thursday.
Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah moved the adjournment motion on the PSI scam, on the back of which the Congress is attacking the BJP.
The BJP government ordered a CID probe following allegations of large-scale corruption in the recruitment of 545 PSIs for which exams were held in October 2021. Over 54,000 candidates wrote the exams. The government has decided to hold the exam afresh.
"Over 100 people are in jail. The government has announced a re-exam. There are many genuine candidates. What will happen to them? This is a serious issue," Siddaramaiah said, trying to convince Speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri who felt the matter was sub-judice.
"We have discussed several such issues here - D K Ravi's death, M K Ganapathy's death, communal violence cases and so on. I won't speak on the merits of the case. I will speak only facts. What message will we send if we don't talk about it in this House?" Siddaramaiah said.
Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister J C Madhuswamy challenged the adjournment motion by reading out from Kaul and Shakdher's Practice and Procedure of Parliament. "The motion has to be about a recent occurrence. My contention is that this isn't a recent occurrence. Second, it shouldn't involve any matter of privilege, but the motion says MLAs and ministers are involved. Lastly, the motion shouldn't deal with any matter pending adjudication," he said.
Former Congress minister Priyank Kharge, who is doggedly pursuing the PSI scam against the BJP government, said no case is pending before the court. "There's one plea by R D Patil seeking all cases to be clubbed. There was a bail plea that got rejected. No other case is pending," he said.
Madhuswamy said the government wants to discuss the issue, but not in the form of an adjournment motion.
"It was our government that found the scam and brought it out. It was our Home minister (Araga Jnanendra) who took action. Also, we will talk about what (scam) happened under whose time," Madhuswamy said. "As a government, we're proud to have brought out the scam."
Siddaramaiah dared the government to constituted a commission. "Let's look into all irregularities that have taken place since 2006," he said.