Gen Singh fails to appear before JK Council

Former Army Chief V K Singh today failed to appear before the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Council for a second time in connection with the privilege motion against him even as the Assembly rejected his plea for quashing it.
A major face-off took place between ruling National Conference (NC) and Congress members over the issue of the legality of the privileges committee of the Council.
Ruling NC staged a walkout from the proceedings of the Committee in protest and demanded issuance of non-bailable warrant against Gen Singh for non-appearance.
"The Chairman of the privileges committee, Jugal Kishore Sharma, preferred to refer the matter to the Chairman of the Legislative Council for clarification about the legality of the Committee.

"During the proceedings of the Committee, Ravinder Sharma (Congress) termed constitution of the Committee as illegal because he said it is supposed to have five members and not six," Member of the Privileges Committee Devender Singh Rana told reporters here.
Rana, who is an NC MLC and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah's confidante, said, "We sought the opinion of the Law Secretary".

"But the Committee Chairman preferred to refer the matter to the Chairman of Council," he said.
"I and my colleagues Dar Sahib and Showkat walked out of the meeting. We sought non-bailable warrant for Gen V K Singh to present him before the House," Rana said.

Taking a dig at Congress indirectly, he said "The Committee was in operation for last over one year. Why has Ravinder Sharma (Congress) suddenly found it illegal? We will discuss the matter in the Party (NC) and chalk out further course of action."
Meanwhile, the Assembly has rejected Gen Singh's plea for quashing the breach of privilege motion against him and referred it to the privileges committee for further examination.