PB SPEAKER YET TO ACCEPT RESIGNATION OF CONGRESS MLAS

PB SPEAKER YET TO ACCEPT RESIGNATION OF CONGRESS MLAS Almost two months after Punjab Congress MLAs submitted their resignations from the primary membership of the Vidhan Sabha, the Speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal is yet to accept the same. Atwal had scheduled a meeting on January 3 of party MLAs to give them a hearing but the same was postponed after the Congress

leaders expressed their inability to remain present. “Speaker has desired that the time for next meeting would be fixed after a written request in person along with his signatures by the leader of the opposition is received,” said a Vidhan Sabha spokesperson.  All 42 Congress MLAs and one independent legislator had put in their papers on November 11, 2016, in protest against the adverse judgment by the Supreme Court on the controversial Satluj-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal issue.

“In accordance with the norms, the Speaker had called the concerned MLAs to his office on December 20, 21 and 22, 2016, to ensure that the resignations by the MLAs were tendered on their own accord and will,” said the spokesperson.  “But, in a letter received from the Punjab Congress Legislature Party secretary on December 15, 2016, the Leader of the Opposition had informed that the MLAs, who had resigned, were busy in Delhi and cannot present themselves before the Speaker so a time-frame of 10 days was requested. The Speaker then called the MLAs on January 3, 2017,” added the spokesperson.