DW BUREAU / Chandigarh The Punjab assembly witnessed uproarious scenes on Wednesday with the opposition storming the Well and raising slogans for the ouster of state minister Sadhu Singh Dharamsot accusing him of being involved in an alleged multi-crore post-matric SC scholarship scam. The Opposition AAP and SAD members later also staged a walkout from the assembly, while SAD and LIP members earlier also held demonstrations outside the House before it assembled. On the concluding day of the three-day special assembly session convened to pass four Bills to negate the Centre's farming laws, Leader of Opposition and AAP leader Harpal Cheema, SAD MLA Pawan Kumar Tinu and Lok Insaaf Party MLA Simarjeet Singh Bains raised the issue of alleged scam and demanded Dharamsot's ouster. The Opposition demanded the ouster of Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Dharamsot despite a government-appointed panel of senior IAS offices giving him a clean chit in the alleged scam and Chief Minister denying any irregularity in the grant of the scholarship. Amid unruly scenes and slogan-shouting by the opposition, during which the SAD members came to the Well of the House, Speaker Rana K P Singh told them he would not let them speak unless they apologise for Harpal Cheema shouting at him. AAP MLAs later staged a walkout from the House with Cheema telling reporters outside the assembly that they were not allowed to speak on various issues. Cheema also said when the assembly had passed the bills on Tuesday to counter the Centre's farm laws, they wanted the state government to also give a guarantee that agriculture produce in the state would be procured on the MSP if the Centre fails to do it. Intervening in the issue, the chief minister termed as "shameful and unfortunate" the opposition's "baseless hounding of his ministers". Singh made it clear in the House that no irregularity had been found in the inquiry conducted into allegations of scams in SC scholarship. The CM flayed the opposition's attempts to unnecessarily tarnish the image of his ministers and the government and said these parties were indulging in petty politics with their unfounded allegations. "The issue of SC Scholarship has been examined by three additional chief secretaries who have found no irregularity in the distribution of funds," the chief minister said, adding the Opposition was unnecessarily targeting the minister on the basis of media reports "which had no substance". He regretted the "trend" of some opposition MLAs debasing the sanctity of the House to gain political mileage. The chief minister expressed concern over the impact of such behaviour against the traditions of the assembly. Notably, after allegations of the misappropriation of Rs 64 crore from the SC scholarship fund had surfaced, the chief minister had directed Chief Secretary Vini Mahajan to conduct a thorough probe. The chief secretary's report, based on the findings of the three-member panel of IAS officers, led by Food Secretary K A P Sinha, had exonerated the minister. The AAP and SAD had recently demanded a CBI probe into the alleged scam in which Cabinet minister Dharamsot's name had figured. Both the parties had also questioned the chief minister's decision of having the chief secretary probe the case, asking how can the chief secretary conduct an unbiased probe against a Cabinet minister. (editor@dailyworld.in)