Baijal to blame for no written answers to Assembly questions: Speaker

Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel on Wednesday termed the failure of government officials to provide written answers to questions raised in the house as an "undeclared emergency" and blamed Lt Governor Anil Baijal for the situation.

The Speaker directed top bureaucrats of the Delhi government departments to be present in the house on Thursday and provide replies to unanswered questions.

"This (situation) is worse than emergency, (this is) undecalred emergency," the Speaker said. "On whose directions is the L-G giving such directions?"

Goel also referred to eight unanswered Assembly questions to the Question and Reference Committee for action.

It is not the first time that Delhi officers have refused to give written answers to Assembly questions.

During the Assembly's Budget session in March, the Speaker said that the Lt Governor had informed that the presiding officer cannot accept any questions on reserved subjects like land, law, and services.

Goel said that Baijal had sent a letter in this regard to the Law Department, after taking opinion from the Legal Affairs Department of the central government.

Goel had then directed officers that they are duty-bound to provide replies to all questions admitted by the Assembly.

On Wednesday, the Speaker ordered the Principal Secretaries of Revenue, Education, and Power Departments to be present in the house on Thursday and that the Ministers concerned should answer three starred questions not answered as yet.

One of the questions for which written answer was not provided pertained to vacant posts in the Dducation Department.

The appointment of officers comes under the ambit of Services Department, which is a reserved subject.

--IANS

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