Speaker Niranjan Pujari today declared as "illegal" and "unconstitutional" a hunger strike launched by a group SC and ST MLAs in front of Chief Minister's chamber in Odisha Assembly premises here.
Pujari also directed the agitating MLAs to call off their strike and attend the proceedings from tomorrow.
The ruling came after a group of Dalit and tribal MLAs sat on a hunger strike in front of the Chief Minister's chamber in the assembly building demanding proper implementation of the Odisha Reservation of Vacancies (ORV) Act.
Their agitation was supported both by the Congress and BJP.
Though SC/ST MLAs belonging to BJD had signed the letter supporting the agitation, the ruling party legislators did not join their Congress and BJP counterparts.
The Dalit and tribal MLAs have been demanding reservation of 38 per cent of seats in medical and engineering colleges and institutes of higher education for SC and ST students.
The issue was first raised by leader of opposition Narasingha Mishra who termed Dalit and tribal MLAs' agitation as "justified".
Mishra said though the government had promised to implement their demands, none was fulfilled. He requested the Speaker to persuade the agitating MLAs to call off the strike.
Ruling BJD member Sashibhusan Behera also requested the Speaker to ensure that an unprecedented incident like MLAs staging hunger strike in front of Chief Minister's chamber does not take place.
Speaker Pujari adjourned the House for more than two hours and convened an all party meeting with the agitating lawmakers. However, the effort did not yield result as the SC/ST MLAs refused to call off agitation.
As there was no progress, Speaker Pujari in a ruling declared the hunger strike as illegal.
