On behalf of Speaker Mubarak Gul, the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly Secretariat on Friday issued a notice to the former Army Chief, Gen. V.K. Singh, asking him to explain why contempt proceedings be not initiated against him for asserting on television that the Union government had transferred secret funds to the State’s Ministers in the last 65 years.
According to the Assembly Secretariat spokesman, Gen. Singh was asked “to explain his position regarding certain revelations made by him during the course of an interview with a Delhi-based News Channel on 23rd September, 2013. The notice has been issued in response to a breach of privilege notice given by 15 Ministers/ Members against him.”
Gen. Singh has been given 20 days to explain his position in the matter so that further course of action could be decided under the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Assembly.
During the recently concluded autumn session of the legislature, members of different political parties strongly protested against Gen. Singh’s purported statement. They called his suggestion — that many of the State Ministers were clandestinely on the payrolls of Army and other Central agencies — as “extremely serious and irresponsible.”
Eyewash, says PDP
PDP spokesman and MLC Naeem Akhtar said a widespread apprehension had come true. “It was the Speaker’s solemn commitment on the floor of the House that Gen. V.K. Singh would be directed to appear before the House for his explanation. We knew that the NC was only hoodwinking the House and the people...,” Mr. Akhtar told The Hindu .
