Chief Secy threatening Assembly officials: House panels’ heads

NEW DELHI: AAP leaders and Chairpersons of various Delhi Assembly panels on Friday accused Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash of threatening Vidhan Sabha officials and illegally interfering in the functioning of the house. "The Chief Secretary is threatening Vidhan Sabha officials and asking them to avoid the Question Hour during the three-day session scheduled in June," Aam Aadmi Party leader and house panels' Chairs Saurabh Bharad- waj, Rakhi Birla, Sanjeev Jha, Madan Lal and Vishesh Ravi said in a joint statement.

"The Chief Secretary is also pressurising the Law Department to extract a wrongful opinion on an issue, in which neither the department nor the Chief Secretary have any locus standi to either seek or give opinion," they added.

These leaders alleged that it was not the first time that the NDA governmentappointed Lt Governor and his team of bureaucrats were trying to interfere in Assembly functioning. "In the past also, opinions of political nature were solicited to disrupt the functioning of Assembly committees."

The house panel Chairs said they will write to Speaker Ram Niwas Goel to request him to "ensure that the supremacy and independence of the legislature are maintained at all levels and such attempts are nipped in the bud". "We will raise the issue during the coming session and will request the house to take a collective decision against this illegal act of the Chief Secretary," they added.