Resigning from Assembly as I cannot fulfill duty: BJP MLA Terash Gowalla
Guwahati, Oct 23 : First-time BJP MLA Terash Gowalla Tuesday said he has sent his resignation letter from the Assam Assembly to Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal.
The legislator from Duliajan constituency said he has sent his letter to Sonowal, who is the leader of the BJP Legislature Party in the state, on Monday night.
Confirming the development, a senior BJP party official said, "Yes, he has sent the resignation to the CM's office on Monday."
Asked about the reasons for resigning from the house, Gowalla said, "There are various issues. I am not able to fulfill my duties as MLA. So, taking the moral responsibility, I am resigning from the Assembly."
When pointed out that the issue of not offering him any post, particularly in Assam Gas Company Ltd (AGCL), during the recent appointments, Gowalla said, "That is one reason.
The AGCL is in Duliajan and people elected me as their representative. They had some expectations from me.
"However, without consulting me, the appointment in the company was made. I am not saying that you (government) give me the post, but at least I should have been consulted."
Asked if there was any possibility of withdrawing the resignation under party pressure, Gowalla said, "I have informed the issues to the CM. If I get a satisfactory answer, I may re-consider it."
Gowalla told PTI he has not sent the letter to the Spaker, Hitendra Nath Goswami, which he will be doing after consulting the people of his constituency.
When contacted, the Principal Secretary of the Assembly Secretariat, M K Deka said, they had not received any intimation about the MLA's resignation.
At present, the saffron party has 61 representatives in the 126-member Assembly.
Sonwal on Monday appointed various persons, including politicians from the BJP, AGP and BPF, as chairman, vice chairman and directors of 40 government-run bodies.
This included appointment of Sadiya MLA Bolin Chetia as chairperson and Indra Gogoi as the vice chairperson of Assam Gas Company Ltd.
Terming it as "very unfortunate", Congress spokesperson Rhituporna Konwar said, "It is nothing but opportunistic politics".
When people are worried about their own identity and a conglomerate of organisations have called an Assam Bandh, Gowalla resigned for his own benefit.
"The BJP MLA had sought peoples' mandate as a legislator only to serve the constituency and not to be appointed as chairman of AGCL or any other company post," the Congress leader said.
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ADM responds in Hindi: U'khand HC asks if person who can't speak English control executive position
Nainital, Jul 26 (PTI): The Uttarakhand High Court has asked two top officials of the state to find out whether an officer who has no knowledge of English can effectively control an executive position after an additional district magistrate responded in Hindi during the hearing of a PIL.
When the division bench of Chief Justice Guhanathan Narendar and Justice Alok Mahra asked why he chose Hindi instead of English, the official said while he could understand the language he was unable to speak it fluently.
At this, the bench asked the State Election Commissioner and the Chief Secretary to find out whether an officer of ADM (Additional District Magistrate) level, who has no knowledge of English, can effectively control an executive position.
The ADM concerned is also the electoral registration officer of Nainital.
The high court asked the state election commissioner and the Chief Secretary to appear before it via video conferencing at the next hearing of the PIL on July 28 to respond to the query.
The situation arose during the hearing of the PIL questioning the inclusion of names of outsiders in the voter list for panchayat elections in Budhlakot gram sabha of Nainital district.
Taking a strict stance on the issue, the high court questioned the State Election Commission on the criteria used for the inclusion of such individuals in the voter list.
The court asked on what basis these individuals were identified as residents of the area.
The election officer, who appeared personally before the court, informed that the names were identified based on the family register.
However, the court observed that under the Panchayati Raj Act, birth and death certificates are considered more important documents than the family register.
So far, more than 25 petitions challenging various issues related to the panchayat elections have been filed. Notably, Akash Bora, a resident of Budhlakot, filed the PIL stating that 82 names in the village's voter list belonged to people from outside the area, most of whom are from the state of Odisha and other places.
When he complained to the SDM, a fact-finding committee was constituted, which found that 18 individuals listed were indeed outsiders.
However, even after the final voter list was released, the names of these 18 individuals were not removed.
After filing the PIL, the petitioner also submitted a list of 30 more such individuals to the court.
However, despite repeated complaints, no action has been taken, the PIL said.
The list includes names of outsiders from places such as Haldwani, Nainital, Odisha, Delhi and Haridwar.
