The Delhi Assembly on Tuesday witnessed <g data-gr-id="34">uproar</g> over the fake degree case of former Law Minister Jitender Singh Tomar. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA OP Sharma demanded the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in the national Capital to probe the educational qualification of all 70 MLAs. He added that the inquiry should be conducted within a time-frame.
“The news gives a perception that the degrees of many MLAs in the House are fake. I request the Chief Minister to live up to his party’s slogan of fighting against corruption and order an inquiry to verify the degrees of all MLAs within a fixed time-frame, say three months,” said Sharma.
Sharma was marshaled out from the <g data-gr-id="31">House,</g> after he tried to disrupt its proceedings. The BJP MLA raised the <g data-gr-id="30">issue,</g> when he was given time by the Speaker to present his views on his ‘Short-Term Notice’ on water and power crisis in the city.
Earlier in the day, Leader of the Opposition, Vijender Gupta, had given notice to the Speaker to raise the issue under ‘Adjournment Motion’ and ‘Calling Attention Motion’. “As the matter is sub-judice, I am not giving permission to raise the issue,” said Speaker Ram Niwas Goel, rejecting both the notices.
The BJP leaders objected to the Speaker’s decision, which led to a heated argument between members of the ruling AAP and BJP, following which Goel had to adjourn the House for 15 minutes.
“The AAP government came to power, promising to rein in power distributing <g data-gr-id="26">companies,</g> but is ineffective to tame them,” alleged Sharma.
He added that the government which is 51 per cent partner in <g data-gr-id="29">Discoms</g> could not do anything to prevent 5-6 per cent hike in power surcharge by the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC). “The DERC is planning another hike in tariff by July and the government is doing nothing,” he said.
Some AAP MLAs such as Rakhi Birla and SK Bagga also raised the issues of power and water shortage in their areas under Rule 280. Gupta, while participating in a discussion on municipal corporations, demanded the government to present the report of the fourth Delhi Finance Commission before the House to improve the financial condition of the civic bodies.