Halqa in charge’ system manned by ‘defeated’ candidates a bad precedent. Harpal Cheema

Chandigarh, February 26

Leader of Opposition in Punjab Assembly, Harpal Singh Cheema said that by appointing the blue-eyed ‘defeated’ candidates as ‘Halqa in charges’ by the Congress government was, besides being a ploy to undermining the authority of the elected candidates and posing hurdles for them to perform their official duties. He said it was against the established democratic traditions of the country.

In a statement issued from the party headquarters here in Chandigarh on Tuesday, Cheema said that these self-styled ‘rejected’ leaders were engaged by the government agencies to disburse government grants among the public, by bypassing the elected candidates, which, he said was unconstitutional and unethical.

Cheema said that under the mounting pressures of the government, administrative officers were authorizing the ‘defeated’ candidates to manage the government-sponsored programmes instead of the elected representatives, which was a disgrace to them.

Cheema further added that he had broached the issue on the floor of the House in the recently-concluded Budget session, but the government, especially the CM Amrinder Singh, acted as a lame duck, which, he said, was unfortunate on his part.

He said that this was notwithstanding the fact that Captain Amarinder Singh and his party had been severely criticizing the illegal culture of ‘Halqa in charges’ being followed by the then Badal government in the state. He had also given a promise to the people to do away with the illegal tradition once the Congress Party was votes to power.  

He accused the Captain government for backtracking on the issue of stamping out the raging culture and his assurance to  route the MLA funds worth Rs 5 crores through the elected members instead of deputy commissioners. He said the government should deal with the problem on a priority basis.