Uproar in Himachal assembly over delay in furnishing information to Opposition

The issue of delay on the part of the state government in furnishing information to queries raised by legislators once again echoed in the Vidhan Sabha on Thursday, with the opposition leaving the House in protest.

With the state government failing to provide information on a query by Hamirpur MLA Ashish Sharma regarding the money provided by Kangra State Cooperative Bank to women in Dehra between June 1 and July 10, 2024, the opposition objected, stating that the information was deliberately being withheld.

Speaker Kuldeep Pathania tried to pacify the opposition by stating that the information would be furnished to the chief minister by the Vidhan Sabha secretariat, and he would share it with Ashish Sharma after reviewing it.

"If you are still not satisfied, you can raise the issue under Rule 61. Let us depart harmoniously as today is the last day of the session," he said. Leader of Opposition (LoP) Jai Ram Thakur said it is the first time in the history of Himachal Vidhan Sabha that a question is listed in the business but is abruptly removed.

"Yesterday the Speaker assured that the reply would be furnished tomorrow, but now it has again been stated that information is still being collected," he said.

It is ironic that Ashish Sharma has furnished the information after obtaining it under RTI, but the state government is still collecting it.

"It is the first time that the MLA who is asking the question of the government is providing the information. As such, he should be allowed to ask supplementary questions," said the LoP. The Speaker said the government has stated that information is being collected, so under the Rules, he had deferred the question.

"Since you insisted, I listed the question for today, but information is still being collected. As per Chapter 7, Rule 34-54 states that a supplementary question is not the fundamental right of any member, but if the Speaker feels it is the outcome of a question, he can allow or refuse," Pathania said.

The Speaker said that when Members are not satisfied with the reply of the CM or ministers, they can resort to Rule 61. One Member has no right to bulldoze the Speaker, proceedings, and the house and waste everyone's time, said Pathania.

With the Speaker denying supplementary questions on Sharma's query, the Opposition Members resorted to sloganeering and left the house in protest. Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh condemned the behavior of the opposition while stating that the BJP is trying to make headlines and there is no justification for their protest.