Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Apr 4: In what could be termed as negation/denial of fundamental requirements of the general public and utter disregard to the constitutional commitments of parliamentary democracy, the assurances being held out by the Government on the floor of the Legislative Assembly are not being taken seriously by the departments and fate of 424 such assurances has been hanging in balance during the past quite long time.
Observing this in its 18th report, the Committee on Government Assurances said, “the departments have been showing a very casual approach in the implementation of assurances held out by the Government on the Floor of the House from time to time ignoring completely the directions passed by the Committee in its earlier reports”.
“Though the justice delayed is universally recognized as justice denied, there has been time consuming approach in the implementation of the assurances held out in respect of the matters of urgent public importance in utter disregard to the constitutional commitments of parliamentary democracy”, the report said, adding “the failure of various departments in furnishing the Action Taken Reports to the Assembly Secretariat within the specified period of time is a matter of concern”.
The Committee has also expressed its displeasure over the non-submission of Action Taken Reports in respect of assurances reflected in its 17th Report by a number of departments including Animal Husbandry, Civil Aviation, Finance, Haj and Auqaf, Home, Horticulture, Parks and Gardens, Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, Planning and Development, Revenue, Technical Education, Youth Services and Sports and Tourism Departments till the finalization of the 18th report.
“Such attitude on the part of these departments tantamount to breach of privilege and contempt of House and the Chief Secretary should impress upon all the departmental heads to ensure timely submission of the Action Taken Reports to the Assembly Secretariat”, the Committee has suggested.
These observations of the Assurance Committee headed by National Conference MLA, Surjit Singh Slathia and former Minister clearly indicate that making assurances on the floor of the House is just an attempt by the Government to bury the issues of public importance.
According to the report of Committee on Government Assurances, fate of 424 assurances pertaining to 30 Government departments has been hanging in balance during the past quite long time. Majority of assurances pertain to those departments, which are directly associated with the people at grass root level and non-implementation of assurances pooh-poohs Government’s tall claims about leaving no stone unturned to mitigate the grievances of the common masses.
The Home Department, which comes under the Chief Minister, has the maximum number of assurances pending for implementation followed by Public Health Engineering, Irrigation and Flood Control and Revenue Departments.
Thirteen assurances are pending for implementation with the Power Development Department, 15 with Planning and Development Department, 45 PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control, 17 with Agriculture Department, 9 with Animal Husbandry, 2 Civil Aviation, 5 Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution Department, one Estates, 8 with Finance Department, 10 with Forest, 13 General Administration Department, 2 Haj and Aquaf, 24 with Health and Medical Education, 23 Higher Education, 46 Home Department, 4 with Horticulture, 13 with Housing and Urban Development Department, 17 with Industries Department, 3 with Information Department, one with Labour and Employment, 3 with Law and Justice, 2 Parks and Garden, 27 Roads and Buildings, 39 Revenue, 13 Rural Development Department, 11 School Education Department, 24 Social Welfare Department, 8 with Technical Education and Youth Services and Sports, 15 with Tourism Department and 5 assurances are pending with Transport Department for implementation.
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