Ram Niwas Goel asks three top officers to appear before Assembly

New Delhi: Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel on Wednesday directed three senior bureaucrats to be present during the Assembly proceedings on Thursday after their departments allegedly did not supply answers to written questions of legislators.

Angry with the development, the speaker termed as “undeclared emergency” the situation where government officers are not providing answers asked by MLAs and blamed lieutenant-governor Anil Baijal for it.

Mr Goel directed principal secretaries of education, revenue and power departments to appear in the House during the proceedings tomorrow, saying questions whose answers have not been provided today would be asked again on Thursday.

Mr Goel adjourned the House proceedings for 15 minutes after some of the ruling Aam Aadmi Party legislators trooped into the Well to protest over officers not providing answers to questions on “reserved subjects”, including law and order, services and land.

The Speaker has also referred the matter of around eight questions not being answered by officers to the Question and Reference Committee of the Delhi Assembly for further action.

“Not only the House, this is also a bigger insult to democracy....this (situation) is worse than emergency — (this is) undeclared emergency,” Mr Goel said while expressing anguish over the matter.

Deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia informed the House that the education department has allegedly not provided answer to a question on the number of vacant posts, citing it falls under ‘reserved subject’.

During the Budget Session in March this year, Mr Goel had hit out at the L-G after he communicated to him that he could not admit questions on reserved subjects including law and order, services and land.

In a protest, Mr Goel, Mr Sisodia, Cabinet ministers and all AAP MLAs wore black bands during the House proceedings against the L-G’s move.