The opposition Congress on Wednesday walked out from Himachal Pradesh Assembly after expressing their dissatisfaction over Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur's reply on pay anomalies of outsource employees.
The Chief Minister, however, said the opposition party was "frustrated" by the latest developments in Madhya Pradesh where their leader, Jyotiraditya Scindia, quit the party and joined the BJP.
Speaking during the question hour in the ongoing Budget session in the State Assembly, Thakur accused the Congress of making walkouts a "routine affair".
The Congress legislators walked out from the House when the chief minister held the previous Congress Government responsible for exploitation of outsource employees.
The previous Congress Government did nothing to regularise the outsource employees during its tenure of five years, but promised to regularise them right before the last Assembly elections in 2017, Thakur said.
Earlier responding to Barsar Congress MLA Inder Dutt Lakhanpal's question, the Chief Minister informed the House, "Recruitment and promotion rules do not apply for outsource employees as they are not Government employees.
They are employees of service provider companies with whom their agreements have been made." As per the agreement, service provider companies are bound to pay outsource employees minimum wages, he added.
The State Government is trying to ensure that the outsource employees are not exploited, the BJP leader said, adding provisions have been made to provide travel allowance, daily allowance and medical leave to them besides the provision of maternity leave. It has also been made mandatory that the outsource employees be provided monthly salary slips, the chief minister added.
SOLAN VARSITY ASSISTANT REGISTRAR HELD IN FAKE DEGREE SCAM, SAYS CM
The Himachal Pradesh Police has arrested the assistant registrar of Solan-based Manav Bharti University in an alleged fake degree scam.
Giving a statement in the State Assembly during the Budget session on Wednesday, Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur told the House that it was evident from the documents seized from the Solan university that they were playing with students' future by issuing fake degrees for long.
Assistant Registrar Munish Goel was arrested on March 8 and remanded in three-day police custody, he said, adding that three FIRs were lodged against the university on March 3, 7 and 8 under various sections of the IPC, including cheating charges, at the Solan's Dharampur police station. Thakur further stated that an FIR was also registered against Una-based Indus University at the Haroli police station on March 9.
Stating that all four FIRs were being thoroughly investigated, the CM said a complaint received against APG University of Shimla was also being probed by a special investigation team (SIT) of the Crime Investigation Department (CID). The CM said the State police seized 305 detailed mark cards, 15 degrees, computer hard disc, laptop, pen drive, stamps and several other documents during its raid on March 6 at the Solan university.
Thakur said police also searched MBU owner Raj Kumar Rana's Madhav University in Rajasthan's Mount Abu and sealed its administrative complex after seizing 1,376 blank degrees, 14 stamps, four despatch registers, 50 migration certificates, 319 blank detailed mark cards and several other documents.
The CM said one of the three FIRs against the Solan university was lodged on March 3 on the complaint of Haryana''s Charkhi Dadri resident Mamta, in which she alleged that she was given a fake degree.
Earlier, Leader of Opposition Mukesh Agnihotri on February 27 had pointed out that there were reports about the involvement of two private universities of the state in a fake degree scam.
Replying to it, Education Minister Suresh Bhardwaj had then said that the University Grants Commission (UGC) had received a complaint alleging that 18 private universities, including two in Himachal Pradesh, were selling fake degrees.
The State police was probing the matter and strict action will be taken if any university is found selling fake degrees, he had added.