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| Bhat, Billowria enjoy study tour safari; LC secretariat peeved | | Veeri co-opted members without Chairman's approval' | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, Mar 24: Apart from photograph of an NC MLCs son appearing on the cover page of report, legislative council secretariat is peeved over how the names of two co-opted members who went on study tour have appeared in the report.
The council secretariat is probing the matter and trying to find how the two co-opted members were included and taken on a safari to various parts of the country at the cost of state exchequer. Sources said that Chairman of the Committee Syed Basheer Veeri co-opted the two members which included his colleague in National Conference (NC) Abdul Majid Bhat and Congress leader Rani Gargi Billowria for study tour.
They added that the two members were taken along by Dr. Basheer Veeri without even requesting the Chairman Amrit Malhotra to issue an order, electing them as members of this committee and then, sending them on study tour. The committee had sent six members on study tour. These included Syed Basheer Veeri as Chairman alongwith Showkat Hussain Ganai, Sham Lal Bhagat and Naresh Bhagat but not Rani Gargi Billowria and Majid Bhat.
According to sources, Bhagat and Gupta got their tickets cancelled at the last moment and thus, Rani Gargi Billowria and Bhat went on the study tour. Sources disclosed that even though the names of Bhat and Billowria have appeared as members of the committee but a formal order duly signed by the Chairman was never issued.
They maintained that there is nothing wrong in co-opting members for any committee but the same has to be done with the consent of Chairman of the legislative council. "Chairman of the committee cannot do anything on his own and whatever he does, he has to seek consent from the Chairman of the council.
If his consent is not there and an order has not been issued, mentioning names of co-opted members in the report is against the norms and procedures," said an official in the council secretariat. He added that an amount of around Rs. 3.50 Lakh has been spent on the two members and this amount, though sanctioned by the Chairman has been account for.
"Audit is going tough questions on how the amount was sanctioned when the two co-opted members were not members of the committee since no order was issued by the council secretariat to confirm them being part of the committee," added the official. He further said that council secretariat is under intense pressure to issue a backdated order to confirm this purported irregularity.
He further said that Chairman had issued an order banning members of the legislative council from sitting in the committees of which they not members and also said that those co-opted as members would not be made part of the reports as and when they are published or presented before the house.
Chairman of Committee on Environment Syed Basheer Veeri when contacted "There is no wrong in the committee. We worked honestly and have presented our report before the house. There is no irregularity and I must tell you that these issues are being created unnecessarily and just to blackmail. There were several other members of the committee but only six were chosen to go on study tour." |
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