The Hindu : New Delhi News : A setback for Delhi Govt.

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Tuesday, Mar 07, 2006

New Delhi

New Delhi

A setback for Delhi Govt.

Staff Reporter

Assembly approves rejection of three proposed Bills by select panels

NEW DELHI: In a major embarrassment to the Sheila Dikshit Government, the Delhi Assembly on Monday approved the reports of three Select Committees rejecting three proposed legislations -- Delhi Water Board (Amendment) Bill, 2005; MCD (Second Amendment) Bill, 2004; and NDMC (Amendment) Bill, 2004. To top it all, Food and Supplies Minister Raj Kumar Chauhan was reprimanded by Speaker Chaudhary Prem Singh for giving a wrong statement in the House.

In what is seen as a fall-out of infighting within the Delhi Congress, the Assembly on Monday rejected the three important Government legislations that had come up for vote in the House on Monday.

The first motion was moved by Ram Babu Sharma and Bhisham Sharma (both Congress) seeking a stamp of approval of the House on rejection of the Delhi Water Board (Amendment) Bill, 2005. As the House nodded in approval, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said the legislation was very important as major clauses had been incorporated into it at the instance of the Union Government and care should have been taken to take up the Bill in detail before rejecting it.

Ms. Dikshit said she was withdrawing the Bill for the present not ruling out the possibility of its re-introduction during the next session. However, Mr. Bhisham Sharma got up and urged the Speaker to set the record straight that all procedural formalities were followed in rejection of the Bill by the Select Committee, prompting Mr. Prem Singh to say that if the right procedure was not followed then the report would not have been adopted.

Similarly, Mr. Ram Babu Sharma moved the MCD (Second Amendment) Bill, 2004, for vote by the House. The same story was repeated when Tajdar Babar (Congress) got up to present the report of the Select Committee that studied and rejected the NDMC (Amendment) Bill, 2004.

On the other hand, the Speaker came down heavily on Mr. Chauhan for not coming to the House prepared and not giving proper replies to the queries of the members. There was a ruckus over Mr. Chauhan remarks in the House when he said that his department had detected lakhs of bogus cards and they had the approval signature of the MLAs.

This was objected to by Mr. Bhisham Sharma who said during the proceedings in the winter session, it was made clear that for any discrepancies in the preparations of the ration cards, the officials who were scrutinising the applications would be held responsible and urged the Minister to issue a clarification. However, Mr. Chauhan refused to yield ground and stuck to his stand that led to a ruckus with even BJP members standing and demanding a clarification.

As the situation threatened to go out of hand, the Speaker intervened and told Mr. Chauahan that pointing an accusing finger at the MLAs was wrong. He asked the Minister to make necessary amendments in his reply and listen to what the MLAs said. The Speaker also upheld the views expressed by the MLAs and said the Minister should have come prepared to the House.

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