BJP questions assembly's power to form panel on spl package

The BJP today questioned the constitutionality of Bihar assembly secretariat forming an all party house committee to monitor implementation of Rs 1.25 lakh crore special package for the state announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi before the Bihar polls.
Forming a committee to monitor special package was beyond the jurisdiction of the assembly secretariat and its two BJP members will resign soon, senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi said.
Referring to Article 246 of the Constitution which deals with division of legislative powers between Centre and state, Modi said a house committee has no jurisdiction to monitor schemes/projects of railways, civil aviation, national highway, petroleum etc which are part of the special package announced for the state.

At best, the state can form such a house panel to monitor the Rs 2.70 lakh crore '7 Resolves' announced by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar as a policy of governance for the next five years, the former Deputy Chief Minister said.
To counter PM's special package, Kumar had announced 'Saat Nischai' (7 resolves) having components like providing electricity, piped water supply, drainage, toilets etc.
Two BJP members of the committee -- Leader of Opposition Prem Kumar and Ram Narayan Mandal boycotted the first meeting of the house committee yesterday.

Sushil said the panel was formed by assembly Speaker Vijay Kumar Choudhary on April 25, to achieve political gains.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar demanded for formation of the committee to monitor implementation of the Special Package of Rs 1.25 lakh crore and Rs 40,000 crore residual amount of previous packages which the PM had announced at Ara before the Bihar assembly elections.
An 11-member committee headed by the Speaker has representatives from JD(U), RJD, BJP, Congress and CPI(ML).
The house panel has been constituted for one year.
Modi said assembly secretariat committee can also be formed for monitoring of centrally sponsored schemes like MGNREGA, IAY, SSA etc in which the Centre and state both have share and is implemented by the state government.

"The Chief Minister can talk to the Prime Minister and union ministers to take stock of the progress of the package," the senior BJP leader said.
The PMO and union ministers concerned have been reviewing the progress of the special package on a monthly basis, he said.