File details related to appointment of Lokpal: Supreme Court to Centre
New Delhi, July 24 : The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Centre to file a detailed affidavit giving "all particulars" of the steps being taken for setting up a search committee for suggesting probable names for the appointment of Lokpal.
Describing the affidavit filed by the Centre which was read out to the court as "insufficient", a bench of Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justice R. Bhanumathi and Justice Navin Sinha directed the Department of Personnel and Training to file a fresh affidavit with full particulars in four weeks time.
At the outset of the hearing, Attorney General K.K. Venugopal told the court the meeting of the selection committee held decided to set-up the search committee and in the next meeting they would suggest names for the search committee.
Venugopal said that the process would take time as people to be included in the search committee have to be expert in law, finances, fighting corruption and other areas.
He also said that after finalising the names for the search committee they will be vetted by the Intelligence Bureau and it is a time-consuming process.
He told the court that 50 per cent members of the search committee will have to be from the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes and the Other Backward Classes.
Accusing the Centre for dragging its feet in not carrying out the legislative mandate to appoint anti-corruption watchdog Lokpal, counsel Prashant Bhushan appearing for NGO Common Cause, told the court that in last four and half years the selection committee has only senior counsel Mukul Rohatgi in the category of eminent jurist.
He said only option available to the court is either initiate contempt proceedings against the people who are engaged in delaying the entire exercise or take recourse to Article 142 of the Constitution and in exercise of its powers appoint a search committee and then appoint a Lokpal from the names suggested by the search committee.
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Unruly scenes witnessed in Punjab Assembly
Chandigarh (PTI): The Punjab Assembly on Friday witnessed high drama on Friday after Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira made an allegedly objectionable remark against Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann during an intense argument over the alleged use of mobile phone in the house by the legislator.
During the one-day special session of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha here, Mann accused Khaira of using a mobile phone when Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan was reading out an official resolution on the revision of wages.
After rising from his seat, the chief minister pointed to the speaker, claiming that Khaira is busy on his mobile phone and urged him to ask the Congress MLA what Sandhwan had said about the resolution.
The speaker then asked Khaira to maintain order in the house and listen to the resolution carefully.
Mann then asked Khaira, "Why don't you go out and then use it (mobile phone)," which led to a strong verbal altercation during which the opposition MLA hurled an accusation against the chief minister. Meanwhile, the speaker appealed for order and insisted that the chair be addressed.
However, both Mann and Khaira continued arguing and could be seen pointing fingers at each other as the proceedings of the house were disrupted.
The AAP MLAs also rose from their seats with Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema condemning Khaira for his conduct and demanded action against him.
Cheema further alleged that Khaira "always tries to disturb the house" as he spoke about his conduct in the assembly.
The incident occurred as an official resolution on the revision of wages was presented at the special session by Labour Minister Tarunpreet Singh Sond who said it paid homage to labourers on the International Workers' Day.
"Workers are the axis of construction of the nation, the community, the state and society. Every construction project succeeds only through their blood and sweat," the resolution read.
As per the resolution, "The base rate of minimum wages for the working class in Punjab was last revised in the year 2012. Although the dearness allowance has continued to increase since 2012, there has been no increase in the base rate of minimum wages.
On this sacred occasion of May Day, in this special session of the legislative assembly, this house proposes to revise and increase the minimum wages of labourers and strongly recommends to the government to take a decision regarding the increase of minimum wages for workers, so that the contributions of the workers can be acknowledged." PRK
