Speaker forwards four matters involving officers to House panel

NEW DELHI: AAP legislators on Tuesday continued their attack on bureaucrats for the second consecutive day in the Delhi Assembly as Speaker Ram Niwas Goel forwarded four matters involving the officers to the question and reference committee.

Goel also ordered the Assembly's privilege committee to look into the matter related to Revenue Secretary Manisha Saxena's recent interview to a Hindi daily, in which she allegedly said a mob attacked the principal and teachers of a government school for scolding a student in Narela area on 21 February. However, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia termed Saxena's remarks "imaginary" and said such an incident never actually happened.

Sexena, a 1996-batch IAS officer, was present in the Officers' Gallery of the House after a direction from the speaker. Besides the question and reference committee, Goel also sent Saxena's matter to the privilege committee following a demand by AAP MLA Sourabh Bharadwaj.

During the Question Hour, AAP legislators sought action against a section of officers for not replying properly to questions asked by them.

Of the three written questions, two were related to food and supplies department and one was about the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB).

AAP MLA Rakhi Birla, referring to a question asked by her, said the officer who gave the answer was "misleading the Assembly" by giving a "false" reply. Bharadwaj, referring to an answer written by Food Commissioner K R Meena, said the answer was "incomplete" and urged that the matter be referred to question and reference committee. "I am forwarding the matters of Question Numbers 26, 27 and 31 to the question and reference committee to look into the matter," Speaker Goel told the House.

AAP's Okhla MLA Amanattullah Khan objected to the presence of IAS officers in the House along with Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash and sought a discussion on it. "The IAS officers are adopting pressure tactics. If this continues, how will we make them work," Khan said. The speaker agreed to allow time for discussion on it.

On Tuesday, Goel had ordered the privilege committee to probe a matter, in which the officers of the vigilance department had allegedly refused to reply to a question.