The committee is expected to submit its report to the Speaker Ritu Khanduri on Friday.
Thursday, 22 September 2022 | PNS | DEHRADUN
The three member expert committee headed by former bureaucrat D K Kotia constituted by the Speaker of Uttarakhand assembly Ritu Khanduri to investigate the controversial appointments done in assembly secretariat has completed its work. The committee in all likelihood is expected to submit its report to the Speaker Khanduri on Friday. The speaker is on a two day visit to her assembly constituency Kotdwar and would return to Dehradun on Thursday evening.
Though the members of the committee are tight lipped about the report it is learnt that they have almost finished the work and would submit the report once the speaker is in town.
On Wednesday the members of the committee visited the assembly and were reportedly busy giving final touches to the report.
The expert committee constituted by the Speaker on September 3 has been asked to submit its report in a period of one month. Apart from Kotia, the two other members of the committee are Surendra Singh Rawat and AS Nayal.
The report of the committee is being eagerly awaited in Uttarakhand because the fate of hundreds of employees appointed during the tenure of different Speakers in the past is dependent. The report of the committee and the action taken on its recommendation could also decide the political future of finance, urban development and parliamentary affairs minister Prem Chand Agarwal.
The controversy on the Vidhan Sabha appointment erupted when it came to light that 72 Ad hoc appointments on different posts were done in December 2021 during the tenure of Prem Chand Agarwal as speaker.
After their appointment the model code of conduct was imposed in the state on account of the assembly elections. The list is said to contain the names of the PROs of ministers, wives of two OSDs of CM and relatives of prominent personalities. Many disclosures followed which revealed that Govind Singh Kunjwal, the predecessor of Agarwal had made 150 appointments while 98 appointments were made during the tenure of Late Prakash Pant, 105 during the period when Yashpal Arya was Speaker and 55 during the period of late Harbans Kapur as the Speaker.
The Uttarakhand assembly has a strength of only 70 MLAs but has more than 550 employees which is said to be the highest among the State assemblies of the country. Interestingly the Uttarakhand assembly has only 15 -16 sittings in a year as compared to 60 or more of the other States.
The expert committee in its report would delve on the legal aspects of these appointments done by the speakers in the past.
