Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir Assembly was adjourned on Friday for a brief period following pandemonium over alleged involvement of PDP leaders including Deputy Speaker Sartaj Madni in a land grabbing case.
Speaker Mubarak Gul adjourned the House for ten minutes as Opposition members including those from PDP and BJP created noisy scenes in the House and disrupted the Question Hour.
As soon as the House assembled this morning, Madni raised the issue of land grabbing allegations levelled by ruling National Conference legislator Bashir Ahmad Veeri in the Legislative Council yesterday, which were published in local newspapers.
"I will quit politics if it is proved that I have purchased any land, even one marla (272 square feet), since I started my political career," Madni said.
The matter pertains to conversion of 200 hectares of wetland into agriculture land at Marhama in Bijbehara constituency of Anantnag district alleged by a PDP leader.
Veeri alleged that names of PDP patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and Madni had also surfaced in the case.
The Legislative Council has already directed the Chief Secretary to ascertain the documents regarding the land in question and submit a report.
Higher Education Minister Mohammad Akbar Lone suggested that the Speaker constitute a House Committee to probe the allegations so that responsibility for the wrongdoing is fixed and punishment meted out to those involved.
The Speaker accepted Lone's suggestion saying he will order a House Committee probe. PDP MLA from Bijbehara A R Veeri said the probe should also include as to how the wetland was converted into agricultural land as Government had passed formal orders to this effect.
However, the situation went out of control as several NC members levelled allegations against the PDP members with the Higher Education minister accusing the principal opposition party of inducting land grabbers into their ranks for financing their election campaign.
In the midst of all this, the National Panthers Party (NPP) raised the issue of including word 'secular' in the preamble of Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir to describe the character of the state with respect to religion.
NPP MLA Harsh Dev Singh had yesterday brought a private members' bill in the House, which was defeated by a voice vote.
The BJP members also raised slogans like 'chor chor masseray bhai (all thieves are cousins)' and 'down with corrupt government'.
As the proceedings remained disrupted for nearly 45 minutes, the Speaker adjourned the House for 10 minutes. The proceedings resumed after the House reassembled at 1100 hours.
