MP Randhawa moves privilege motion against DC, writes to Lok Sabha Speaker
Gurdaspur MP Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa created a flutter in political and government circles by moving a privilege motion against Deputy Commissioner (DC) Uma Shankar Gupta for “showing disrespect to him and his colleagues in the presence of government officers.” Randhawa has sent a letter to the Speaker of the Lok Sabha Om Birla informing him of his decision.
He has made SP (Headquarters) Jugraj Singh, ADC (Development) Gurpreet Singh Bhullar and ADC (General) Surinder Singh as witnesses. All these officers were present when the incident took place in the office of the DC.
MPs enjoy specific privileges and immunities which help them to fulfil their duties. A privilege motion is a formal complaint raised by MPs challenging any action that undermines their rights, powers and dignity. It is essentially a way to hold individuals or entities accountable for breaching these privileges. Randhawa, Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa, former Cabinet minister Tripat Rajinder Singh Bajwa and Gurdaspur Congress MLA Barindermeet Singh Pahra went to meet the DC this morning. They were upset after Congress workers complained that the administration was not providing them with NOCs. An NOC is a mandatory document for a candidate if he has to contest the panchayat elections.
High drama prevailed for 30 minutes as Randhawa and Pahra engaged the DC in “high decibel level verbal volleys”. However, the two Bajwas — Partap and Tripat — tried to maintain a modicum of decency amid all the chaos.
Randhawa claimed that the DC asked them to go out of his office. Reacting to MP’s claim, the DC said: “I never asked them to go out. Somebody is trying to create a mountain out of a molehill. In fact, I offered them tea when they were having a discussion with me. How can I ever think of asking an MP and an LoP to leave my office?”
Sources say the DC has apprised the Chief Secretary and other senior officers of the sequence of events leading to the verbal fracas.
Randhawa claimed that he and Partap Bajwa made repeated calls to the DC after workers complained of high-handedness by officials conducting the panchayat elections. He added that he had prepared a list of unattended calls as made to the DC and would present them to the Speaker.
Senior leaders say this act of Randhawa is unprecedented as no MP in the past has ever moved a privilege motion against any government officer. “A sitting AAP MLA has virtually kidnapped all panchayat secretaries of this district and is keeping them captive in his house. We wanted to tell the DC about this development. However, the officer kept on making excuses and never answered us,” said Bajwa.
