With the Captain Amarinder Singh-led Congress government dithering on its poll promise, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) co-president Aman Arora has sought to table a private member bill in the budget session of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha for unseating ministers and MLAs found guilty of conflict of interest.
Arora, who is MLA from Sunam, submitted the private member bill titled “The Punjab Unseating of Members of Legislative Assembly found Guilty of Conflict of Interest Bill, 2018” to Vidhan Sabha speaker Rana KP Singh on Thursday, seeking his permission to table it in the session.
“Under the proposed bill, any elected representative, be it the chief minister, ministers or MLAs, shall be liable for disqualification, hence unseated, within a period of six months, if found guilty of conflict of interest for furthering his own private interest, financial or commercial, directly or indirectly, at the cost of interest of the state,” he said at a press conference. Kharar MLA Kanwar Sandhu was also present.
Arora said mafias involved in land, sand, transport and cable businesses were taking undue advantage with the patronage and overt involvement of those in power for the past many years, but successive governments had failed to take measures to prevent blatant loot of resources of the state. “Had such law existed, mafias would not have come into existence,” he said, accusing the Congress government of going back on its poll promise.
The AAP leader said the Congress had in its election manifesto promised to enact the Conflict of Interest Act, but has done nothing so far. The state cabinet had, in its first meeting, decided to bring legislation on this. The CM later indicated that the MLAs would not be covered under the proposed law. However, it has been virtually in cold storage barring occasional talk before every session of the state assembly.
{{/usCountry}}The AAP leader said the Congress had in its election manifesto promised to enact the Conflict of Interest Act, but has done nothing so far. The state cabinet had, in its first meeting, decided to bring legislation on this. The CM later indicated that the MLAs would not be covered under the proposed law. However, it has been virtually in cold storage barring occasional talk before every session of the state assembly.
{{/usCountry}}In his draft bill, the AAP legislator has suggested a five-member commission headed by a retired judge of the Supreme Court of high court to prevent conflict of interest.