The Hindu : Other States / Punjab News : Opposition demands longer session, walks out

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Thursday, Dec 16, 2004

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Opposition demands longer session, walks out

By Our Staff Correspondent

CHANDIGARH, DEC 15. The Punjab Assembly was adjourned sine die today amid protests by members seeking longer sessions.

The entire Opposition consisting of legislators from the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), the Bharatiya Janata Party and two independents, boycotted the proceedings after zero hour when they staged a noisy demonstration in the well of the House.

The Speaker, Kewal Krishan, informed the House that he had sought information from various States which had begun implementing the recommendations of the Speakers' Conference regarding ensuring minimum number of sittings of the Legislatures.

Dr. Kewal Krishan assured that once the information arrived, it would be placed before the Rules Committee as well as the Business Advisory Committee of the House. Quoting his innings as a parliamentarian, the Speaker stressed the need to reverse the trend of reducing the sittings to mere constitutional obligations. He said that instead of aiming at stalling the proceedings, the opposition should have also submitted notices for discussion.

Earlier, major hackling was witnessed in the House which assembled on Tuesday, when the leader of the opposition, Parkash Singh Badal, argued with the Dr. Kewal Krishan, who rejected an adjournment notice moved by the former. The Speaker ruled that Mr. Badal's notice was not in accordance with the rules of Legislative business and had sought discussion on various matters that were sub-judice before judicial or quasi-judicial authorities. Subsequently, Mr. Badal sought more sittings in the present session. He even suggested a secret ballot on his proposal as he claimed that many members from the treasury benches also wanted to raise issues of vital public interest and express their anxiety about inertia in Government functioning. He sought a justification from the Government for holding a single- day sitting when all Ministers were sitting idle as no development work was on in the State. At this the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Jagjit Singh, and his colleague in charge of the Food portfolio, Lal Singh, countered that it was a case where the "pot was calling the kettle black''. They reminded the SAD members about tenure of the previous Government, when Mr. Badal himself had laid down such traditions, which circumvent the democratic institutions.

Accepting that the Government did not have sufficient legislative business to conduct the House for more days, Ch. Jagjit Singh reminded that each sitting cost around Rs 75 lakh daily. He said that the forthcoming budget session would provide major opportunity for the members to raise as many issues they desired.

However, the ruling party faced major embarrassment, when one of its legislators and former Deputy Speaker, Bir Devinder Singh, expressed his reservations on adjourning the House today. He sought to know the fate of 30 questions and one Calling Attention notice which he claimed to have submitted well in time. Mr. Singh said that such short sessions were not only unfortunate but amounted to muffling of democracy. He lamented that the Punjab Urban Development Authority (PUDA) and the State Education department had not responded to as many as 232 letters written by him on matters of public interest. Nearly, three and half dozen phone calls were not replied by bureaucrats and five visits to each office were of no avail.

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Opposition demands longer session, walks out