Shimla: Taking advantage of the oppositions absence from the house, the Himachal assembly permitted murder accused and jailed legislator Ram Kumar Chaudhary to remain absent for the entire 24 day monsoon session, which opened here today
Opposition BJP having staged a walkout after speaker BBL Butail disallowed them to raise an issue without having served notice, he informed the house that a request had been received from Chaudhary seeking the houses permission to remain absent from the entire monsoon session.
The monsoon session’s first day also happened to be a historic moment for the Himachal assembly as it became the first assembly in the country to go fully digital by adopting e-Vidhan technology but in defiance of the transparency that it promised to usher in, the request of Ram Kumar Chaudhary taken up by the assembly was not listed on the business agenda for the day.
Devoid of the opposition, the house allowed Chaudhary request.
“We oppose it,” Prem Kumar Dhumal, leader of the opposition later told reporters outside the house. Holding the exemption granted as a violation of the house rules, Dhumal pointed out, “this item was neither listed on the days agenda nor was it discussed at an all party meeting, called by the speaker a day before the session commenced.”
Chaudhary, a first time MLA from Doon in Solan, is one of the four accused in murder of a 24 year old woman in Panchkula that took place on 22 November, 2012.
Under permission from the courts, Chaudhary was allowed to take oath as a member of the HP assembly but has never attended any of the assembly sittings.
As Editor, Ravinder Makhaik leads a team of media professionals at Hill Post.
Spanning a career of over two decades in mass communication, as a Documentary Filmmaker, TV journalist, Print Media journalist and with Online & Social Media, he brings with him a vast experience. He lives in Shimla.
