A Delhi Assembly committee on Monday assured the High Court that it would not take any coercive action against Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash for skipping meetings called by the panel.
The Privilege Committee gave the assurance after the court made it clear that the matter before the committee should be deferred in view of the Chief Secretary seeking legal remedy before the court.
Justice Rajiv Shakdher sought response of the Centre, the AAP government and the Lieutenant-Governor on Mr. Prakash’s plea challenging the notice by the committee directing him to appear before it. The judge posted the case for further hearing on April 11.
Earlier in the day, the petition came up for hearing before another Bench headed by Justice G. S. Sistani which said efforts should have been made by both “sides”, the AAP government and the bureaucrats, to calm tempers after the assault case of Mr. Prakash allegedly by some AAP MLAs.
‘Work together’
The Bench said the notices issued by the Assembly committee to Mr. Prakash “add fuel to fire”.
“He is your chief secretary. If you do not respect him then how will things work. Was there no other way of calling him?,” the Bench asked while sending the case to be heard by a single judge Bench.
The committee had directed Mr. Prakash to appear before it for skipping a meeting, which was scheduled a day after he was allegedly assaulted by two AAP MLAs Amanatullah Khan and Prakash Jarwal, both of whom are now in Tihar Jail.
‘Khan a member’
Senior advocate Sidharth Luthra, appearing for Mr. Prakash, contended that his client has been asked to appear before the committee, which has Mr. Khan as one of its member.
“How can I (CS) be asked to appear before a committee whose member assaulted me and an FIR has already been registered against him. 11 members including Mr. Khan and Mr. Jarwal assaulted me and others are yet to be identified. I don’t know if they will also be there in the meeting,” Mr. Luthra said.
Senior advocate Sanjay Hegde, representing the Assembly committee, said: “There can’t be a scenario where the executive is not responsible to the legislature. The bureaucracy cannot paralyse the work of the legislature... It is not a summon. It is just a notice that meeting will take place.”
