Delhi Speaker wants to withdraw letter to HC

New Delhi, Nov 2 : Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel on Thursday told the Delhi High Court that he wants to withdraw the letter he wrote to Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal expressing agony at "developments that are purposely triggered to cripple the functioning of the Legislative Assembly".

A bench of Justice G.S. Sistani and V. Kameshwar Rao asked counsel appearing for Goel to give a written request for withdrawing of the letter dated October 27.

Counsel told the court that the letter was between two constitutional authorities and should be treated as unconditionally withdrawn. The bench, asking the counsel to come with a written request to withdraw the letter, now posted the matter for November 8.

The three-page letter, which is now being heard as a petition, alleged that a division bench of the court had passed orders against the legislature without ascertaining facts.

The speaker, who is the Aam Aadmi Party legislator for Shahdara, did not name the two officials. But, as per sources, the reference is to petitions in high court filed recently by Principal Secretary, PWD, Ashwani Kumar and Delhi Chief Secretary M.M. Kutty.

Kumar approached the court against "breach of privilege" proceedings initiated by the assembly's privilege committee. He got a stay from the court on the proceedings which had been initiated against Kumar for allegedly misleading a house panel on desilting of drains in the city.

Kutty also got a stay from the high court on a show-cause notice issued by the assembly's "question and reference committee" for allegedly not following its directive to incorporate adverse remarks in the annual confidential report, or ACR, of a bureaucrat.

The letter claimed that in two of three matters heard by a high court division bench, the Delhi assembly was not even served notice and they were not able to represent their position to the bench.

In his letter to the Chief Justice, Goel said: "I urge upon you to not to allow in future such acts which endanger the delicate balance and harmonious relationship that exists between the legislature and judiciary."

The letter also said that state that the pronouncements of a division bench of the high court "turned out to be alarmingly injurious to the relationship" between the organs of the state.