Haryana Budget Session: Abhay Chautala named again for his ‘unparliamentary’ behaviour, moved out of House

Abhay tried to corner the government through another supplementary question, which was objected to by the Speaker. This resulted in a heated exchange of words between Gupta and Abhay Chautala. Despite being asked to sit down, Abhay Chautala kept shouting and did not let the Speaker conduct further proceedings of the House.

When the Speaker asked Abhay Chautala to leave the House, the latter refused. Speaker Gupta then named Abhay Chautala and asked marshals to remove the INLD MLA from the House.

On Friday, Haryana Vidhan Sabha had passed a resolution “not to accept” the notice issued to Speaker Gian Chand Gupta by the Punjab and Haryana High Court in response to a petition filed by Abhay Chautala.

The matter pertains to the ongoing Budget session’s proceedings conducted on February 21 when Gupta “named” Abhay Chautala for his “unparliamentary behaviour” and barred him from participating in Vidhan Sabha proceedings on February 22 and 23. The Ellenabad MLA had challenged the Speaker’s decision in the high court on February 23. The case is scheduled to be heard on March 23.

Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar condemned Abhay Chautala’s behaviour. “Respecting the Chair [Speaker] is the utmost duty of any Member. Arguing with the Chair should be held against the dignity of the House. In the House, every Member has equal rights to raise their issues before the Speaker. However, misbehaving with the Speaker certainly is not expected from any member and strict cognizance should be taken against such incidents,” Khattar said.

Later in the day, Congress MLA Geeta Bhukkal had a heated exchange with BJP MLA Deepak Mangla. Mangla praised the budget presented by the BJP-JJP coalition government, and Bhukkal called the coalition government ineffective.

8.41 lakh ration cards found “ineligible”

The issue of people who have been held “ineligible” and whose ration cards have been “discontinued”, also rocked the Vidhan Sabha’s proceedings when it was raised by Congress MLA Aftab Ahmed.

Replying to the question raised on the issue, Dushyant Chautala said: “The ration card holders whose cards have been discontinued are being thoroughly investigated. According to the rules, if they are found eligible, their ration card will be issued again and remaining ration will also be provided. On the basis of data provided by the Citizen Resource Information Department (CRID), 8,41,817 families have been found ineligible for pink cards. Due to the discontinuation of their ration cards in December 2022, ineligible families have not been provided ration for the month of January 2023. It was further informed that ration has been allocated to 31.59 lakh BPL/AAY families for the month of January 2023 as compared to 26.94 lakh families for the month of December 2022.”

Explaining the eligibility criteria, Dushyant added: “The annual income should be less than Rs 1.80 lakh for making Priority Household (BPL) ration card. The eligibility criteria for inclusion of identification of a family as Priority Household (BPL) in the State has been issued by the Rural Development Department and Urban Local Bodies, Haryana vide their notification dated August 3, 2022, and August 31, 2022, respectively, and accordingly the beneficiaries are identified by the CRID, Haryana. Under the National Food Security Act, 2013, pink cards (AAY) have been issued to 3.02 lakh families as fixed by the Government of India, such families having income less than 1.80 lakh per annum are placed at the bottom of the list of families.”

More than half the posts in Cooperative Banks lying vacant

Congress MLA Shamsher Singh Gogi raised the issue of vacant posts in the state’s cooperative banks. The government’s reply also revealed that more than half the posts were lying vacant. Replying to Gogi’s assertions, Cooperative minister Dr Banwari Lal said: “Seven hundred and forty-one posts are filled in State Cooperative Banks. The process of filling the remaining posts is underway. On August 14, 2019; 978 posts to be filled by the Cooperative Department were terminated due to a court case, but about 2,060 people have been hired on a temporary basis to run the department. There is no intention to close the department and the staff in the Agriculture and Rural Development Bank is adequate. Sixteen out of 242 posts in district Ambala, 51 out of 298 in Bhiwani, 18 out of 227 in Faridabad, 41 out of 202 in Fatehabad, 42 out of 250 in Gurugram, 76 out of 353 in Hisar, 38 out of 176 posts in Jhajjar, 42 out of 245 in Jind, 41 out of 261 in Kaithal, 42 out of 235 in Kurukshetra and 58 out of 332 in Karnal are filled. Thirty-two out of 184 cooperative vacancies in Mahendergarh, 17 out of 114 in Panchkula, 37 out of 193 in Panipat, 45 out of 194 in Rewari, 23 out of 199 in Rohtak, 65 out of 358 in Sirsa, 30 out of 297 in Sonepat, 28 out of 247 posts in Yamuna Nagar are filled.” He informed the House that there are a total of 4,608 posts, and the process of filling the remaining posts is underway. “Two hundred and eight posts out of 593 are filled in Haryana State Cooperative Apex Bank Limited, Chandigarh,” he said.