The Centre is facing stiff opposition, from both within and outside, on the issue of revalidation of petrol pump and gas agency allotments made by the Rao regime. The allotments were made under ministers discretionary quotas, which have been scrapped since then by the Supreme Court.
The pressure for revalidation, from large sections of the Congress and some other parties, and the counter-pressure against it, has made life difficult for parliamentary affairs minister Srikant Jena. The Prime Minister has entrusted him with the job of building a political consensus before Parliament meets after recess on April 21. If he fails, the government will have to follow the court order and scrap all allotments. The two CPI ministers, home minister Indrajit Gupta and agriculture minister Chaturanan Mishra, have strongly opposed the move in the cabinet. CPI(M) general secretary Harkishan Singh Surjeet has rejected the move as ridiculous on its very face, at a time when the courts have passed severe strictures and the matter is sub-judice. He says such matters should not be entertained at any cost. Except for the Communists, those running the government are armed with arguments in support of revalidation of the irregularities, claiming that it would be highly impractical to reverse them and much easier
to revalidate them.
The problem for the government, even if it cleared the problems inside the United Front, would be the BJP and the Samata Party, which are swearing to oppose the revalidation. However, the movers of the proposal see a ray of hope in the inclusion of a prominent woman BJP MP in the list of those allotted petrol pumps from the ministers discretionary quota. But the voices of opposition within the BJP are equally strong. We will never allow revalidation of petrol pump allotments, says BJP general secretary Sushma Swaraj.
Those opposed to revalidation say the governments argument of impracticability in scrapping the allotment does not hold water as practical problems could be overcome once the government takes a firm decision to go along with court orders and scrap all allotments. After all, the shops allotted to favourites by the former urban development minister Sheila Kaul in the Lodhi Road Complex, for a mere Rs 400 per month rent, have now been rented out on open market rates, of more than Rs 10,000 per month. The governments dilemma is that it wants to revalidate the irregularities of the previous government, but does not want to be seen doing it. It cannot steamroll the Left on this, either in the Cabinet or in the United Front Steering Committee, because the Left has taken the moral high ground.
While the BJP, Samata Party and the Left parties have opposed revalidation of petrol pumps and gas agencies, as well as out of turn allotment of government accommodation and shops, their opposition to house allotments does not appear to be as sharp as to gas and petrol pump agency allotments.
These parties leaders realise that the house allotment issue, which relates to at least 2,500 government employees, affects the bureaucracy, including some important officers. They would not want to alienate these officers.
Perhaps to play on this, the law ministry has drafted a cabinet note that includes all three issues, including discretionary quota for admission in various central schools, house and shop allotments, gas agencies and petrol pump distribution. Even if there is a general cabinet decision on all these issues, separate bills will have to be drafted.
