Uproar in house again over delayed information

The issue of delay on the part of the state government in furnishing information to the queries raised by legislators once again echoed in the Vidhan Sabha today with the Opposition leaving the house in protest.

With the state government failing to provide information on a query by Hamirpur MLA Ashish Sharma on the money provided by Kangra Central Cooperative Bank to women in Dehra Assembly segment between June 1 and July 10, 2024, the Opposition accused the government of deliberately withholding information.

Speaker Kuldeep Pathania tried to pacify the Opposition by stating that the information will be furnished to the Chief Minister by the Vidhan Sabha secretariat, who will share it with Ashish Sharma.

Leader of Opposition (LoP) Jai Ram Thakur said it is for the first time in the history of Himachal Vidhan Sabha that a question is listed in the business but it is abruptly removed. “Yesterday the Speaker assured that the reply will be furnished tomorrow but now again it has been stated that information is still being collected,” he said.

The Speaker said. “The government has said the information is being collected so under the Rules, I have 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 says that the 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.

With the Speaker denying supplementary questions on Sharma’s query, the Opposition members restored to sloganeering and left the house in protest.