New Delhi: The Communist Party of India (CPI-M) on Wednesday has vehemently criticised Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla after he skipped a Parliamentary Committee meeting on Information Technology where the issue of suspension of telecom services and internet and its impact was discussed.
"The incumbent government is being run by the bureaucrats. It is the bureaucrats who decides whether to attend a Parliamentary Committee meeting or not. This is utterly condemnable," former Member of Parliament and CPM politburo member Hannan Mollah told ETV Bharat.
Home Secretary Bhalla who was supposed to attend the Parliamentary Committee meeting, in a letter addressed to the committee chairman Shashi Tharoor expressed his inability to attend the meeting.
In his letter, Bhalla cited Rule 270 which suggested that the government may decline to produce a document on the ground that its disclosure would be prejudicial to the safety or interest of the state.
As scheduled the committee meeting that took place in the afternoon, however, turned into a battleground between members of both the ruling and opposition parties over the issue whether the committee can discuss the withdrawal of high-speed internet in Kashmir.
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Representatives from the Ministry of Communications and Ministry of Home Affairs were present in the meeting. According to the sources, Bharatiya Janata Party members present in the meeting opposed discussion on the subject of internet connectivity in Jammu and Kashmir, citing national security issue.
The BJP MPs have repeatedly demanded a vote on the subject, which was overruled by committee chairman Tharoor. In earlier occasion too, the committee held discussion on the issue especially on the internet and communication services in Jammu and Kashmir.
It may be mentioned here that the Jammu and Kashmir administration has recently extended the ban on 3G and 4G internet services citing elections and security related issues for 280 district development council (DDC) seats.
"If the government think that normalcy has returned back to Jammu and Kashmir, why don't they resume the internet and communication services," said Mollah. The Parliamentary Committee on IT was reconstituted in September with Congress MP Shashi Tharoor appointed as the chairman of the committee.
Earlier, Tharoor's decision to summon Facebook executives and take up the suspension of 4G internet services in Jammu and Kashmir has drawn criticism from the BJP members of the 30 members committee.
Also read: Home Secy not to attend IT standing committee meeting on internet shutdown
