THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Lokayukta amendment bill has been passed in the legislative assembly. The amendment to the Lokayukta Act, brought by the E K Nayanar government 23 years ago, was passed by the house on Tuesday. Meantime, opposition leader V D Satheesan said that it is a black day in the history of the assembly. “We are not ready to witness this murder”, said the opposition and boycotted the house. Whether the governor will sign the bill can be known only in the coming days.

Initially, the government had introduced a provision through the amendment that the governor, chief minister and the state government can accept or reject the Lokayukta verdict, within three months, after hearing the arguments. The issue sparked a controversy as the CPI expressed dissent over the provision. Later, further changes were brought as per the settlement within the front. According to this, the assembly will be the appellant in the judgment against the chief minister, the chief minister in the judgment against the ministers, the speaker in the judgment against the MLAs and the government in the judgment against the officials. Earlier, political leaders were also included in the ambit of the Lokayukta.