Jakhar for privilege motion against Patiala divisional commissioner
Wednesday, 19/11/2014
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CHANDIGARH: With Patiala divisional commissioner AS Pannu admitting that he had called Kuljit Singh Nagra, Congress MLA from Fatehgarh Sahib, for a hearing on Monday regarding a complaint by subdivisional magistrate (SDM) Pooja Syal on the directions of chief secretary Sarvesh Kaushal, Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Sunil Jakhar said his party would bring a privilege motion against Pannu in the forthcoming session of the Vidhan Sabha.
Claiming that he was not sure about the provisions of the law in this regard, Pannu said he was bound by the government order that had come from the chief secretary. Nagra, however, did not appear for the hearing. According to Pannu, the next date of hearing would be fixed within a fortnight.
Jakhar said the summoning of the MLA by the commissioner was an infringement of democratic privileges, as defined in the Constitution. “Officials can submit their complaints, if any, before the Vidhan Sabha’s privileges committee but none has got the liberty to humiliate an MLA,” he said.
The SDM, in her complaint, has alleged that Nagra used unparliamentary language during a meeting in September. The CLP leader added that Congress MLAs had met the Vidhan Sabha speaker on September 23 and the latter had assured to conduct an inquiry into the matter in person.
Blaming the ruling SAD-BJP coalition for using bureaucrats to harass Nagra, he warned that such attempts would be resisted strongly and the CLP would rally round Nagra.
Jakhar said the state government wanted to prevent the Opposition from raising its voice against rampant corruption, diversion of welfare funds to feed vested interests, scams that embarrassed the ruling alliance leaders and poor governance.
“The state leadership and their senior officials need to be told that MLAs enjoys the status above that of the principal secretary and decorum has to be maintained accordingly,” he added.
