Appoint NRI panel chief, Punjab LoP Partap Singh Bajwa writes to Mann

Chandigarh, December 17

Leader of the Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa has alleged that the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) was not paying attention to the appointment of the Chairman and members of the NRI Commission.

“This is not only crippling the work of the commission, but also harming interests of the NRIs. They have written to CM Bhagwant Mann and NRI Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, but to no avail,” Bajwa said.

Instead of empowering the commission and enacting new laws to resolve the issues faced by NRIs, the government had halted the working of the commission by not making any decisions on the appointment, Bajwa alleged.

Raising the issue with the CM in a letter, the LOP said previous chairman Justice Shekher Dhawan’s tenure ended on February 6 this year along with the tenures of MP Singh, Gurjit Singh Lehal and Savinder Singh Sidhu as members. Even the last member, Hardeep Singh Dhillon, also completed his tenure on August 4 this year. Since then, there had been no one to hear the old cases, issue orders, accept new complaints or take necessary action, the letter read.