Minister not present, Himachal Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania reprimands ruling party benches

Dharamsala, December 21

Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania today reprimanded the ruling benches for violating the rules of the House. He was upset as a Cabinet minister was not present in to reply to questions during a discussion pertaining to his department last evening.

The Speaker said that it was unfortunate that the minister was neither present in the House nor did he authorise anyone to answer queries on his behalf. “I have taken the matter seriously and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Harshwardhan Chauhan has assured me that such an incident will not happen in future,” he added.

As soon as the Question Hour began, Leader of the Opposition Jai Ram Thakur said that the ruling benches violated the rules of the House yesterday. He added, “A Cabinet meeting was held while the Assembly was in session. It was a breach of the privilege of the House.” He also questioned the absence of Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu from the House during a debate pertaining to one of his departments.

Chauhan said that the Chief Minister had authorised Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri to reply to questions on his behalf. Meanwhile, Sukhu said that even Thakur was also not present in the House and his party members had misinformed him about the incident.

The Speaker said that the House was in session till 8 pm yesterday. “The House is supreme and I observed some mistakes committed by the ruling benches. I have been assured that such an incident will not happen in future,” he added.