AGENDA-LESS ONE DAY PUNJAB ASSEMBLY SESSION IS A FRAUD

ITS AN INTENT TO CIRCUMVENT THE ISSUE BASED DEBATE IN THE HOUSE

The one-day Punjab assembly session called on 3^rd of September 2021, under Section 173 (1) of the constitution of India is seemingly a deceptive move of the Chief Minister Capt. Amarinder Singh to circumvent logical discussion on all important issues confronting Punjab every day. I agree that technically, one day session of the Punjab Legislative Assembly meets the statutory requirement of the constitution to hold a session of the Assembly within six months of the last sitting of the house. Because the Budget session of the Punjab Assembly was held in March 2021, therefore it was obligatory to call the assembly session before September 9, as per the constitutional requirement, under Article 174 (1) of the Constitution of India.

Article 174 (1) of the Constitution of India 1949, reads as follow;

“The Governor shall from time to time summon the House or each House of the legislature of the State to meet at such time and place as he thinks fit, but six months shall not intervene between its last sitting in one session and the date appointed for its first sitting in the next session”.

As a former presiding officer of the House, I’m of the considered opinion that to dedicate one sitting of the House for the remembrance of the 400th birth anniversary of Sri Guru Teg Bahadur , is perfectly fine gesticulation;  but to scuttle the entire legitimate agenda, under this  excuse ,  is a monumental  legislative fraud,  which could be termed as the biggest in the post-independence ,  parliamentary history of Punjab. The Punjab cabinet headed by Capt. Amarinder Singh has scandalously committed a profanity against the temple of democracy i.e. The House of Legislature and also against the people of the State.

HOW COULD DISCUSSIONS ON IMPORTANT ISSUES BE CIRCUMVENTED?

How could the State cabinet circumvent discussion on all important issues confronting the Punjab almost every day, warranting collective view of the legislature, which entail consideration on the floor of the House? Who will discuss the appalling law & order situation of Punjab and where? Why the sufferings of the farmers, who are agitating and struggling for the repeal of the anti-farmer Agri laws for more than a year, is not being considered a legitimate issue   to be debated on topmost priority  as part of the agenda of the proposed session of the Vidhan Sabha? Why the ill-conceived fraudulent PPAs (Power Purchase Agreements) are not being discussed and rejected, out rightly on the floor of the house; as unequivocally guaranteed by the Punjab Congress Chief, Mr. Navjot Singh Sidhu? Could Capt. Amarinder Singh answer;  as to who will discuss and debate the demands of the employees of the State Government, agitating teachers, Patwaries, Anganwari workers, Asha workers and Manrega workers, Panchayat Secretaries and many others on the war path against the State Government ?

If Capt. Amarinder Singh really enjoys the absolute majority of the MLAs as being perpetrated through ‘Dinner Diplomacy’ than why he is shying away to discuss the issues on the floor of the House? As the legitimate forum to prove majority is the floor of the House, not the ‘Dinner party’. If he can attend the dinner, hosted by one of his close courtiers and could flaunt among the hundred odd crowds of his sycophants; then why he is conducting cabinet meeting through video conferencing? If during the panic of ‘Delta Variant’ School children could sit in a class room together, why his ministers could not sit in cabinet meeting?