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Journalism of Courage
Delhi Police Commissioner Y S Dadwals absence from a scheduled discussion in the Assembly on the subject of law and order in the Capital,led to massive protest from both the ruling and Opposition members in the Secretariat on Thursday. The BJP,which was to initiate the discussion,refused to participate till Dadwal was summoned.
Faced with outrage,Shastri adjourned the House for 30 minutes and directed Dadwal be summoned to the House immediately. According to sources,Dadwal first said he was unwell,but when the Speaker insisted,agreed to come to the House.
When the House reconvened,Shastri requested the members to wait for 20 minutes for Dadwal to show up. At this point,Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said the House does not function at Dadwals beck and call.
He has already wasted an hour and a half of this Houses time. Id like to suggest that we hold this debate on Monday and he should be present at an hour decided by the House, the chief minister added. Malhotra agreed with Dikshit and the speaker rescheduled the debate for Monday afternoon.
The Delhi Police chief functions directly under the jurisdiction of the Home Ministry and is not answerable to the Delhi government. This has long been a thorn in the Delhi governments side and spilled over in the Assembly on Thursday,as both the Congress and the BJP united in order to protest against Dadwals absence. Law and order should be handed over to the Delhi CM, said BJPs Sahib Singh Chauhan amid loud approval from Congress benches.
