Even as Punjab Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution urging the Centre to transfer Chandigarh to Punjab, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Friday said Chandigarh is and will remain the joint capital of Haryana and Punjab.
Both the states have several other issues to talk about apart from Chandigarh, Khattar said responding to the resolution, moved by Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann in the special one-day session of Punjab Assembly today which was unanimously passed by the House by all parties except the Bharatiya Janata Party.
On the political row sparked by Union home minister Amit Shah’s announcement that Central service rules will apply to the employees of Chandigarh, Khattar said while considering the demand and interest of the employees working in Chandigarh, the Central government has taken the decision to implement Central Service Rules. The Punjab government is misleading the public on this issue, he said.
The Haryana CM said employees of Chandigarh would be greatly benefited from this Union government decision. Earlier, the employees of Chandigarh had to depend on the Punjab government for every single government order, he added.
Previously, the orders regarding allowances or other benefits issued by the Central Government were implemented in Chandigarh only after Punjab used to issue notification for the same but now after this decision, all these orders would be directly applicable to the Union Territory employees, Khattar added.
He said that Punjab has not yet given the benefit of the 7th Pay Commission to the employees whereas Haryana had implemented it in the year 2016 itself. He said that the employees of Chandigarh were also deprived of these benefits till now, but now after the implementation of the new rules, they will get all these benefits.
Khattar said Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh came into existence through the Punjab Reorganization Act passed in the year 1966. There is a provision in this Act that 60 per cent of employees of Chandigarh will be from Punjab and 40 per cent will be from Haryana. Since that time Chandigarh has been the capital of Haryana and Punjab, he added.
Khattar said not only Punjab and Haryana but the people of Himachal Pradesh also claim their shares in Chandigarh. In one case, the Supreme Court in one of its judgments had also stated that under the Punjab Reorganization Act Himachal Pradesh too has the right to 7.19 percent of Chandigarh’s land. It is a different matter that Himachal Pradesh has declared Shimla as its Capital.