MLA ‘insult’: Assembly panel for action against Moga DC

Baghapurana MLA had accused the officer of keeping him waiting in his office and of humiliating him in August 2017; panel recommends that the DC not be posted in any office that requires public dealing

The Committee of Privileges of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha has recommended action against Moga deputy commissioner Dilraj Singh for breach of privilege on a complaint from Bagha Purana Congress MLA Darshan Singh Brar. The MLA had claimed that on August 16, 2017, the DC kept him waiting in the visitor’s room for half an hour and later humiliated him before other Congress leaders.

Cong MLA Darshan Singh Brar

Congress MLA from Dera Baba Nanak, Sukhjinder Randhawa, heads the panel that has recommended that the officer not be posted in any office involving dealing with the public for three years. Besides, it has also suggested that the IAS officer be sent on public-dealing training for three months.

Brar, a former minister and a three-time MLA, had filed the complaint of breach of his privileges as an MLA with the Vidhan Sabha speaker in the last week of August, and he forwarded the complaint to the privileges committee.

He had also turned emotional during a hearing on the matter before the committee in October 2017. “I had gone to meet the DC regarding some work and was accompanied by block Congress presidents Gurcharan Singh Cheeda and Jagsir Singh Arhtiya. The DC first kept us waiting. When he did call us into the office, we were not even offered a chair,” Brar told the committee.

On the committee’s recommendation, the MLA said, “The Vidhan Sabha panel has done justice.”

“I work as per the directions of the Punjab government and will follow orders,” said deputy commissioner Dilraj.