House panel set to look into interview by principal secy
NEW DELHI: The face-off between the Aam Aadmi Party government and bureaucrats may not be ending soon as the Delhi Assembly on Tuesday referred a matter relating to a newspaper interview given by a principal secretary to the House’s privileges committee.
Speaker Ram Niwas Goel forwarded four other matters, involving officers, to the question and reference committee.
The Speaker ordered the privileges panel to look into the matter related to the interview given to a Hindi daily by principal secretary (revenue) Manisha Saxena’s. In the report, Saxena allegedly said that a mob attacked the principal and teachers of a government school for scolding of a student in Narela on February 21.
Speaking in the House, deputy chief minister and education minister Manish Sisodia termed Saxena’s remarks “imaginary” and said that such an incident did not happen.
Sexena, a 1996-batch IAS officer, was present in the Officers’ Gallery of the House after a direction from the Speaker. Besides the question and reference com- mittee, Goel also sent Saxena’s matter to the privilege committee following a demand by AAP MLA Saurabh Bharadwaj.
Saxena is the secretary of the Joint Forum of Delhi Government Employees (IAS, Danics, DASS). The forum has been leading the protest against the government over the alleged assault on chief secretary Anshu Prakash at the CM’S residence.
During Tuesday’s session, AAP’S Okhla MLA Amanatullah Khan objected to the presence of IAS officers in the House along with chief secretary Anshu Prakash and sought a discussion on it. “The IAS officers are adopting pressure tactics. If this continues, how will we make them work,” Khan said.
The Speaker allowed the discussion.
During the Question Hour, several AAP legislators sought action against a section of officers for providing “vague” answers to their questions. Of the three written questions that were forwarded to the questions and reference committee for further probe, two were related to food and supplies department and one was regarding Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB).
“I am forwarding the matters of Question Numbers 26, 27 and 31 to the question and reference committee to look into the matter,” Speaker Goel told the House.
AAP MLA Rakhi Birla, referring to a question asked by her, said that officers of the food and supplies department were “misleading the Assembly” by giving a “false” reply. Bharadwaj, referring to an answer by Food Commissioner K R Meena, said the answer was “incomplete” and urged that the matter be referred to question and reference committee.