Srinagar, Nov 10: Chairman of the Legislative Council (LC) Amrit Malhotra on Saturday said that he will be taking on Monday the final call over the fate of the House Committee on alleged forest land grab by Taj Mohi-ud-Din.
“I will take a decision over fate of the House Panel on Monday in the wake of recent developments,” Malhotra told Greater Kashmir.
Meanwhile, according to legal experts resignation of NC legislators from the panel won’t affect it anyway, as the quorum stands intact.
“There are still three members in the committee and they can hold the meeting as per rules,” they said.
While Murtaza Khan of PDP and Syed Rafiq Shah of the Panthers Party are unlikely to resign due to their political affiliations - belonging to opposition parties - the lone Congress member in the House Panel, Bashir Ahmad Magray also ruled out his resignation from the panel.
“I am not going to resign and nobody has asked me for the same,” Magray said.
Meanwhile, political parties have urged Malhotra to go ahead with the probe saying that the attempts to quash the panel at this juncture would send wrong signal among the masses.
Senior Congress leader and former minister Abdul Gani Vakil termed the developments unfolding over the past few days as unfortunate and said if probe is shelved, it would create a wedge between Congress leadership and common masses.
“Nobody should feel scared to face inquiry and if the person in dock claims to be on high moral ground, he should welcome investigation rather than creating impediments in it,” Vakil said.
According to Vakil, the move has put question mark on the oft-repeated claims of the State Government about fighting corruption and if government cannot act against the bureaucrats/ministers then it has no moral authority to prosecute lower rung officials involved in corruption, nepotism.
Vakil added that Congress cannot remain a mute spectator on corruption issue as “this has made life of poor people miserable.”
Chief spokesman of Peoples Democratic Party, Naeem Akthar said NC particularly Abdullah family will go all out “to help their friend in need” even though it marks the lowest level to which premier political parties of the state can fall in subverting parliamentary processes, accountability and democratic institutions.
“This is a coalition of mutual benefits,” he said.
State secretary of Communist Party of India (Marxist) MY Tarigami said the House has the authority to go into anything which comes under the discussion.
“Parliamentary procedures help us in analyzing the facts and no one should be averse to them,” Tarigami said.

Lastupdate on : Sat, 10 Nov 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sat, 10 Nov 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sun, 11 Nov 2012 00:00:00 IST