Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Jan 10: The controversy shrouding the refusal of one of the Secretaries of the Legislative Council to receive the letter sent by former Army chief Gen VK Singh yesterday today took a serious turn when Legislative Council Chairman Amrit Malhotra constituted a three members committee to hold an in-house inquiry into the matter even as a representative of Gen Singh today delivered the same letter to Mr Malhotra.
In his letter, the former Army chief said he holds the Council Chairman, its members and the House in high esteem and has no intentions to disregard them. He sought that breach of privilege proceedings initiated against him should be quashed.
Official sources told the Excelsior that after one of the Secretaries in the Council refused to receive the letter from the representative of the former Army chief, the same person today delivered the letter to Mr Malhotra personally.
The letter has been addressed to Maqbool Bhat, Additional Secretary of the Council, who was acting as Secretary with the Privilege Committee. It was Mr Bhat, who on behalf of the Privilege Committee, headed by Congress leader and former Minister Jugal Kishore Sharma, had issued summon to Gen Singh on December 8 seeking his personal appearance before the Panel at 11.30 am on January 9.
While Gen Singh hadn’t appeared personally before the Privilege Committee, his representative—Yashpal had tried to handover a letter of the former Army chief to an official of the Council, who had allegedly refused to receive it after speaking to someone on telephone.
Sources said the representative of Gen Singh today delivered same letter to Council Chairman Amrit Malhotra in his office. Mr Malhotra personally received the letter.
In his letter, Gen Singh said he has utmost regard for all democratic institutions including Parliament, State Assemblies and Councils as well as their members.
“A similar notice was sent to me by the Legislative Assembly on the same issue. I had replied to all questions in my reply sent to the Legislative Assembly Speaker. I am enclosing a same copy of the letter to you, which should be treated as my response,’’ the letter signed by the former Army chief’s Advocate Vishwajit Singh said.
It added that the former Army chief had also set a Compact Disc (CD) in support of his claim to the Speaker, which the Chairman of the Council and the Privilege Committee can view to clear him of the charges.
“I reiterate and reassure that my intents and motives are bonafide and I never meant to violate privilege of august House and I hold the members of the House in utmost regard and high esteem. Therefore, I submit that allegations leveled against me are not made out. Therefore, the breach of privilege motion against me be quashed and no proceedings initiated further,’’ the letter said.
Meanwhile, Mr Malhotra today constituted a three members committee to hold an inquiry into the reports and claim of Gen Singh’s representative that one of the Secretaries of the Council had refused to take the letter yesterday from him after speaking to someone on telephone.
Two Under Secretaries and Personal Secretary of the Chairman would conduct the inquiry into the charges.
Mr Malhotra has asked the Inquiry Committee to find out as to which official had refused to take the letter of the former Army chief after speaking to some person on telephone.
“This is a serious matter. The official to whom Gen Singh’s representative came to deliver the letter should have received it and submitted to the Privilege Committee yesterday itself. The inquiry committee would find out the official so that action was taken against him,’’ Mr Malhotra said.
He added what has made the matter serious was the charge that the official had talked to someone on telephone after seeing the letter of Gen Singh and then refused to receive it.
Sources said the representative of the former Army chief had gone to the room of Maqbool Bhat, Additional Secretary, Legislative Council, who was officiating as Secretary to the Privilege Committee to deliver the letter, where one of the officials saw the letter, rang up a person and refused to take it. However, Mr Bhat was out of station and the Inquiry Committee would now find out as to which official was sitting in his room and hadn’t taken the letter.
Gen Singh had to appear before the Privilege Committee at 11.30 am yesterday. Apart from sending the letter, his Advocate had also given a call to Mr Malhotra and apprised him that the former Army chief was in Tamil Nadu. As the Privilege Committee has now summoned Gen Singh on January 22, his Advocate has assured the Chairman that he would appear before the Panel.
The Privilege Committee headed by Congress leader and former Minister Jugal Kishore comprised Devender Singh Rana, Ali Mohammad Dar and Showkat Ganai (all NC MLCs), Ravinder Sharma and Ghulam Nabi Monga, both from Congress.
PCC (I) chief Prof Saif-ud-Din Soz had said yesterday that in his opinion there was no need to summon Gen Singh personally.
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