The Hindu : New Delhi News : Sheila deliberately creating constitutional crisis: Mukhi

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jul 02, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Sheila deliberately creating constitutional crisis: Mukhi

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, JULY 1. The Leader of the Opposition in the Delhi Assembly, Jagdish Mukhi, today accused the Sheila Dikshit Government of making a mockery of the Speaker's office and committing constitutional impropriety by allowing the pro-tem Speaker to perform "illegal functions'' of a full-fledged Speaker in violation of all norms. He also accused the Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit, of deliberately creating a constitutional crisis by not going in for the election of a Speaker before the budget session scheduled for July 20.

Addressing a press conference, Mr. Mukhi said it was failure of the Congress Government to convene a one-day session of the Assembly to elect a Speaker that had resulted in such a situation. However, this was not done deliberately and now there was a situation where the head of the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee was functioning as a full-fledged Speaker throwing all norms to the winds. What was most shocking was that the pro-tem Speaker, Chaudhary Prem Singh, was misusing the official letterhead of the Speaker, also signing official files and using all the facilities that are extended to the Speaker in office, he added. ``The pro-tem Speaker cannot be proactive and is appointed only for a few days. Mr. Prem Singh has also not been sworn-in as the pro-tem Speaker and despite being the head of the Congress party in Delhi, he is continuing in the post for the last more than one month.''

Mr. Mukhi sought to know on what basis the Government had allowed Mr. Prem Singh to function in such a situation and extended to him all facilities. It is understood that Mr. Prem Singh has been sending letters to the Ministers on the Speaker's letter-head, a situation that could put the Congress party in the dock. In fact, the BJP is preparing to corner the Congress Government on this issue during the budget session.

Mr. Mukhi said his party would seek to corner the Sheila Dikshit Government on the findings of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CG) report that had indicted the Congress Government for going out of the way to favour the private power distribution companies to the tune of crores of rupees.

Earlier, a delegation of the BJP Legislature Party also met the Delhi Lieutenant-Governor, B.L. Joshi, and apprised him of the problems being faced by the people of Delhi including the crisis on the water and power fronts.

The delegation informed Mr. Joshi that potable water was not available to a large number of residents across the Capital forcing people to buy water from the open market. What was most intriguing was that despite availability of power, the residents of Delhi were facing power shortage due to mismanagement by the private distribution companies that were fleecing the consumers by slapping inflated bills on them. The failure of the Congress Government to properly relocate the industrial units from non-conforming areas and the scam in cleaning of drains before the onset of the monsoon were some of the other issues that were highlighted by Mr. Mukhi and the other BJP legislators.

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