Court permission will decide Mehraj Malik’s participation in Assembly session: Speaker

Srinagar, Oct 3: J&K Legislative Assembly Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather on Friday said that the attendance of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Mehraj Malik in the upcoming session of the Assembly depends on whether the court grants him permission.
Speaking to reporters, the Speaker said his attendance depends on whether the court will grant him permission. “It depends on whether he gets permission or not. For that, I think he would need to approach the court. If the government grants permission, he should come-it would be good,” Rather said.
Malik was detained under the Public Safety Act (PSA) last month by the J & K administration.
To a question about the show-cause notice served to PDP MLA Waheed-ur-Rehman Para, the Speaker said that his reply is currently being examined.
“He had issued a misleading statement. He(Para) has claimed that the Assembly secretariat had endorsed the PSA. We don’t have any role in approving PSA. The PSA is slapped by the district magistrate,” he said.
Para was served show cause notice by the Assembly secretariat for his social media post claiming that the Assembly secretariat had endorsed the detention of AAP MLA Mehraj Malik under the Public Safety Act (PSA).
“Shameful surrender. Assembly Secretariat endorsing PSA against an elected MLA is a direct assault on democracy. J&K CM @OmarAbdullah must act, don’t allow the institution of MLA, the last agency of the people, to be silenced. Today it’s Mehraj, tomorrow it could be you,” Para had said in a post on X, formerly twitter.
The Speaker said that they are in process of framing a provisional calendar for the upcoming session of the Assembly.
“I think it wouldn’t have more than 5-7 sittings. This is a brief session. It depends on government business. We are getting information about government business within one or two days and will issue a provisional calendar,” he said.