Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Thursday wrote a letter to Speaker Ritu Khanduri asking her to institute an inquiry into allegations of backdoor recruitments in the state assembly.
"You will agree that the state assembly is an autonomous constitutional institution. Maintaining its sanctity has been our topmost priority," Dhami said in his letter.
He urged Khanduri to consider instituting a high-level probe into the allegations of irregularities in the appointments to the state assembly that have been in circulation on the social, electronic and print media for some time.
He said if irregularities are detected during the probe, they should be cancelled and provisions should be made for neutral and transparent recruitment to the constitutional institution in the future.
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Allegations of favouritism have been levelled against former Vidhan Sabha speaker Prem Chand Aggarwal in appointments made during his tenure.
He has been accused of appointing relatives and acquaintances of political leaders in the Vidhan Sabha.
Opposition party launched attack
The Aam Aadmi Party's Uttarakhand unit previously asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to break his silence on the alleged recruitment scams in the state and get them probed by the CBI and Enforcement Directorate.
"In my view, the prime minister should break his silence on these scams and have them investigated by the CBI and ED," AAP's state convenor Jot Singh Bisht added. He also alleged that lease of liquor shops was given for three years instead of one to please the liquor mafia in the state ahead of 2022 assembly polls.
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"The Vidhan Sabha is the latest addition to the list of recruitment scams in Uttarakhand in which the former speaker gave appointments to his son, daughter-in-law, nieces, nephews and other relatives," Bisht said during a press conference here.
"This liquor scam caused a huge loss to the state exchequer should also be investigated by the CBI and ED," Bisht said. Elections were held in Uttarakhand on February 14 and the results declared in March. The BJP retained power by winning 47 seats in the 70-member assembly.
(With PTI Inputs)
