THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: It is indicated that the ad hoc committee appointed for the amendment of the Legislative Assembly Rules has recommended that there is no need to impose time restrictions on the walkout speeches of the party leaders in connection with the adjournment motion in the Assembly. The committee chaired by Minister K Radhakrishnan submitted its report to Speaker AN Shamseer yesterday. The report will be presented in the next assembly.

It is reported that the opposition members of the committee have expressed strong disagreement over the timing of the walkout speeches. It is recommended that the current provision, which requires Ministers to put the answers on the table or present them in brief, should be tightened rather than ministers reading out long answers to starred questions in the House during the questions and answer session. In the case of women members being considered for the chairmanship panel and house committee chairpersons, it is indicated that instead of 'Panel of Chairman', using the terms 'Panel of Chairperson' and 'Chairperson of house committees' has been suggested.

Questions answered or denied earlier shall be deemed to be answered or denied in the current session of the House, provided that they are not repeated if they are essentially the same. A member desiring to move a motion for the removal of the Speaker or Deputy Speaker should include the full form of the motion while giving notice to the Assembly Secretary. It is informed that instead of the provision that 'the bill passed by the House should be submitted to the Governor after signing by the Speaker', the provisions such as 'the Speaker should sign the certificate that the bill has been passed by the Assembly on the specified date' has been included in the report.

The committee consists of Deputy Speaker Chittayam Gopakumar, Government Chief Whip Dr N Jayaraj, AP Anilkumar, Anoop Jacob, Mathew T Thomas, Mons Joseph, U Pratibha, Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, PTA Rahim, TP Ramakrishnan, N Shamsuddin, KK Shailaja, Katakampally Surendran and EK Vijayan.