MC House ruckus: Leader of Opposition seeks details on deployment of marshals

The controversy over deployment of marshals during the September 30 General House meeting of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation has deepened with Jaswinder Kaur, AAP councillor and Leader of Opposition in the House, seeking details from the MC Secretary.

In the letter to the Secretary, Jaswinder Kaur has sought information regarding the deployment of marshals during the House meeting.

She said being the Leader of Opposition in the House, she was writing to formally request information concerning the security arrangements made during the meeting. Kaur has sought to know that as per the rules and policies of the Municipal Corporation, how many marshals are officially permitted to be present inside the House during a meeting? Further, she has asked about the total number of marshals who were actually present inside the House on September 30.

Kaur has demanded the details of the authority or official who appointed or deployed the marshals for the said meeting, the department or agency to which these marshals belong — whether they are from the MC staff, any outsourced security agency or any other department.

The AAP councillor has sought the information in writing at the earliest. The request is being made in the interest of transparency and accountability regarding the functioning and proceedings of the House, she added.

The House had witnessed a huge uproar during the September 30 meeting after councillors of the Congress and AAP tore the pages of minutes.

Amid pandemonium, Mayor Harpreet Kaur Babla directed Congress councillor Sachin Galav, Senior Deputy Mayor Jasbir Singh Bunty, Deputy Mayor Taruna Mehta

and AAP councillor Premlata to go outside the House.

However, the suspended councillors refused to go, citing provisions of the Municipal Corporation Act. They claimed that under the Act, there is no provision for calling marshals inside the House. The Mayor suspended all four councillors and called marshalls to evict them from the House.

Soon after the Mayor’s order, ruckus broke out in the House as all opposition councilors surrounded the suspended members. The marshals have a tough time to take all suspended councillors outside the House. The high drama continued for over half-an-hour as opposition members did not let the suspended councillors go.

Jaswinder Kaur said once she will got the information she had sought she will raise the issue in the House. She added that there were no clarity on the guidelines regarding the deployment of marshals.