BJP flays Punjab assembly’s resolution seeking Chandigarh’s transfer to state

Former MP and additional solicitor general of India Satya Pal Jain says the switch to central pay scales in Chandigarh has been done under Article 309 of the Constitution, which authorises the central government to frame rules

Senior Chandigarh-based Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders have criticised the Punjab assembly’s resolution against imposition of central services rules in Chandigarh.

Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann delivering a speech during the one-day special Punjab Vidhan Sabha session in Chandigarh on Friday. (Ravi Kumar/HT)

Former MP and additional solicitor general of India Satya Pal Jain said, “The switch to central pay scales in Chandigarh has been done under Article 309 of the Constitution, which authorises the central government to frame rules. The Punjab Vidhan Sabha or the Punjab government has no power to reject or pass resolution against the rules framed by the Union government by exercising powers given to it by the Constitution of India.”

Former Chandigarh BJP president Sanjay Tandon demanded that the Chandigarh AAP councillors and the party unit should clarify if it also supported the Punjab assembly’s resolution.

He said the AAP was trying to play divisive and disruptive politics in the region. Hailing the announcement made by Union home minister Amit Shah regarding introduction of central service rules in Chandigarh, he said it was a long-awaited bonanza for the UT employees and bizarre that the AAP councillors had not welcomed it.

Jain said in 1966, Punjab was reorganised under the Punjab Reorganisation Act on the basis of Shah Commission’s recommendations. It had recommended the inclusion of entire Kharar tehsil, of which Chandigarh was a part, in Haryana. But the then central government gave Kharar town to Punjab and Chandigarh, with 23 villages, was made a Union territory.