Delhi assembly panel fixes responsibility for denial of info for House queries

The Delhi assembly committee of privileges, in a report tabled in the assembly on Monday, said replies to questions related to public order, police and land were not being furnished to the assembly since March 2018

A Delhi assembly panel has recommended that the administrative secretary or the head of the department should be personally held responsible and proceeded against in all cases where the information sought by the minister for reply to questions in the House is denied as it amounts to breach of privilege and contempt of the House.

Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia speaks in the Assembly during the Winter Session of the Delhi Legislative Assembly on Monday. (ANI Photo)

The Delhi assembly committee of privileges, in a report tabled in the assembly on Monday, said replies to questions related to public order, police and land were not being furnished to the assembly since March 2018, following a communication from the LG office to the services department to not admit queries related to matters under the “reserved” category.

According to the Constitution, three key subjects -- public order, police and land - are administered by the LG.

Akhilesh Pati Tripathi, chairman of the committee of privileges, said since 2018 answers to dozens of questions on services have not been provided to the House. “It amounts to creating hurdles in the smooth functioning of good governance. All information which is available under RTI must be given to the House. Information on vacancy in different departments is available under RTI, but no answer is given to questions admitted on the same subject in the assembly,” Tripathi said.

The committee further recommended: “The Committee further recommends that Government of NCT of Delhi should take necessary action in coordination with the Central Government to introduce an amendment in the Parliament in order to legislate or make laws on subject matter related to Public Order, Police, Land of the State list under Seventh Schedule of the Constitution.”

The Committee strongly recommended that Delhi government should take appropriate steps to ensure that the replies to the Questions raised by MLAs in the Assembly are duly answered by the department concerned.

Saurabh Bharadwaj, member of the committee, said no reply was given to a question related to vigilance department, raised in the House on Monday. “It is wrong. The elected body should know which vigilance cases are being investigated against all officers because we deal with those officers every day. The LG cannot hide the names of the officers against whom vigilance cases are being investigated,” Bharadwaj said.

The committee pointed out that the members of the House have been raising questions on subject matters related to public order, police and land and replies to questions on these subject matters were being furnished since inception of the Assembly in 1993. “However, as a covert manner in order to curtail the powers of the Delhi assembly and privileges of the assembly, replies to subject matters noted above are not being provided to the assembly since 2018 in view of the letter (from LG),” the committee stated in its report.

The development triggered an uproar in 2018 and assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel wrote LG Anil Baijal, requesting him to withdraw the communication. The L-G office had sent a letter to the Assembly on March 19,2018 on the Union law ministry’s advice. Later, the services department wrote to the assembly’s question cell, expressing inability to send replies on services related matters. This had also been communicated by the principal secretary (law) to the assembly secretary on March 19, 2018.

A Delhi assembly official said the report is likely to be adopted in the House on Tuesday.

Repeated attempts to seek a comment from the LG’s office on the matter did not fructify.