Leader of Opposition (LoP) Partap Singh Bajwa on Friday urged chief minister Bhagwant Mann to take immediate action to fill vacant positions in the Punjab State Commission for Non-Residents Indians, which had brought its functioning to a halt.
In a letter to the chief minister, Bajwa said the commission’s operations had come to a standstill due to the vacancies in the positions of the chairman and members which was affecting the NRIs. He said the chairman’s tenure ended on February 6, 2023, along with the tenures of three members and the last member completed his tenure on August 4. “Since then, there has been no one to hear the old cases, pass orders, accept new complaints, or take necessary action,” he wrote. HT was the first to report this on November 22.
He said the NRIs, whose interests this commission was set up to protect, are waiting every day for the government’s decision to appoint a new chairman and members. “Many NRIs have written to you and the NRI affairs minister to do the needful, but the government has not taken any action. The minister verbally said the file is pending with the chief minister’s office (CMO),” he said.
Bajwa said instead of empowering the NRI commission and enacting new laws to resolve the issues faced by NRIs, the government has halted the working of the commission by not making any decisions on the appointment. This inaction is causing distress to the NRIs whose cases are pending and is contrary to the purpose for which the commission was established, he said. The commission was constituted under the Punjab State Commission for Non-resident Indians Act, 2011 (Punjab Act No. 33 of 2011) and has been instrumental in safeguarding the interests of NRIs.
{{/usCountry}}Bajwa said instead of empowering the NRI commission and enacting new laws to resolve the issues faced by NRIs, the government has halted the working of the commission by not making any decisions on the appointment. This inaction is causing distress to the NRIs whose cases are pending and is contrary to the purpose for which the commission was established, he said. The commission was constituted under the Punjab State Commission for Non-resident Indians Act, 2011 (Punjab Act No. 33 of 2011) and has been instrumental in safeguarding the interests of NRIs.
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