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No judicial probe, assembly committee to do a fact finding probe
This was conveyed by the assembly speaker Gian Chand Gupta to the members after lunch break on Tuesday when the House assembled for the final sitting of the three-day winter session
{Sexual exploitation of school students}
The business advisory committee (BAC) of the Haryana assembly on Tuesday decided that a fact-finding inquiry into the allegations of shielding Jind school principal made against former education minister Geeta Bhukkal by deputy chief minister (CM) Dushyant Chautala, will be conducted by a committee of the assembly headed by school education minister Kanwar Pal.
This was conveyed by the assembly speaker Gian Chand Gupta to the members after lunch break on Tuesday when the House assembled for the final sitting of the three-day winter session.
Thus, the proposed move to have the matter inquired by a sitting high court (HC) judge as well as the notice submitted by Congress legislators seeking to invoke a question involving breach of privilege by the deputy CM for allegedly making false and misleading allegations Bhukkal were given a burial.
The principal of Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Uchana in Jind, Kartar Singh, was arrested and terminated from government service recently for allegedly sexually exploiting girl students.
The deputy CM on December 15, the first day of the three-day assembly session, had accused Congress MLA Geeta Bhukkal, of sheltering Kartar Singh when she was the education minister during the Congress rule.
The leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda had on Monday objected to the proposed move to hand over the assembly proceedings with regard to allegations made by deputy CM against Bhukkal to a sitting judge of the Punjab and Haryana HC. The former CM said that the assembly proceedings should not be subjected to the scrutiny of the high court.
Later in the day on Monday, the Congress MLAs submitted a notice to the speaker seeking to invoke a question involving breach of privilege by the deputy CM for allegedly making false and misleading allegations against Bhukkal. The Congress MLAs said that this matter be sent to the committee of privileges.
After the BACs decision to shelve the move of a judicial inquiry was conveyed to the House on Tuesday, the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) MLA Abhay Chautala said the decision of not going for a probe by a sitting HC judge was an insult to the House. “ This was decided by the House. A few members of a committee cannot decide otherwise,’’ Abhay said as he stood up to speak on a calling attention motion on the sexual exploitation of girl students.
Speaker Gian Chand Gupta, however, said the BACs decision was presented before the House and there was unanimity on it. “The House can reconsider its earlier decision. The House is supreme,” the speaker said.
Announcing the BACs decision, the speaker told the assembly that after discussion in the committee it has been decided by the members present that the matter related to Jind school principal which was discussed in the House on Friday and Monday may not be referred to the high court for investigation by a sitting judge.
The speaker said the BAC has also decided that a fact-finding committee under the chairmanship of the school education minister may be constituted by the speaker to investigate the said matter related to the principal for the period of 2005 to 2023 for all incidents mentioned, discussed in the House in its sitting on December 15. The speaker later announced that the notice seeking breach of privilege proceedings against the deputy CM does not have his consent. The fact-finding committee headed by the school education minister is likely to have two MLAs each from the Congress and Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) as its members.
Chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar in a post assembly session said during the business advisory committee meeting held on Tuesday, it was agreed that a five-member committee will be formed under the chairmanship of school education minister Kanwar Pal to investigate such incidents in schools from 2005 to 2023.
The sexual exploitation of girls by the principal of a school at Uchana in Jind district had led to a war of words between Dushyant and Bhukkal on December 15.
Dushyant, who is the JJP MLA from Uchana Kalan constituency in Jind, had accused Bhukkal of sheltering the principal when she was the state education minister in 2011. Bhukkal had responded by saying that the allegations were baseless and the deputy CM should either present evidence or apologise in the House.
