Three former Karnataka ministers on Monday sought a week's extension to file reply to the show-cause notices issued by Speaker K G Bopaiah on the porn-watching episode in the legislative assembly.
The three -- Lakshman S Savadi, C C Patil and J Krishna Palemar -- sent a letter to the legislative assembly secretariat in this regard.
They were last week directed by the speaker to file the reply by Monday. Assembly Secretary P Omprakasha confirmed the receipt of the letters of the three former ministers. "The speaker (now in his home-town of Madikeri) will come back on Tuesday. I will bring it to his notice", Omprakasha told PTI.
Bopaiah had already said the once the reply is received, a seven member House panel, comprising four members from the Bharatiya Janata Party, two from the Congress and one from Janata Dal-Secular, would be formed to conduct an inquiry into the issue. This panel would be asked to submit a report to him by March 12. The report would then be placed in the assembly.
The Opposition Congress and JD-S have argued that there was no need for a house panel as the three former ministers have already made admissions vis-à-vis the episode, and demanded their immediate disqualification.
The speaker had said that he did not disqualify them summarily to ensure that the accused get principles of natural justice.