New Delhi : The Opposition has challenged Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to retain 69-year-old Nripendra Misra as his principal secretary: there were vociferous protests in Parliament on Friday over the government’s controversial Ordinance, which seeks to legitimize the appointment of the former telecom regulator in the PMO.
The Opposition has questioned the constitutional validity of the Bill which seeks to replace the Ordinance that was issued two days after Modi was sworn in. It seeks to facilitate Misra who, as a former TRAI chairman, is debarred under the law from taking up any government job after retirement.
A former IAS officer of UP cadre, Misra had joined the PMO in May on the strength of the Ordinance.
The Congress and the Left MPs on Friday tried to block introduction of the Bill on the ground that the provision in the law to keep the regulatory authority independent of any government influence was being trampled upon and they won’t be party to it.
Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, who introduced the Bill, defended the Ordinance, pointing out that TRAI happens to be the only body which bars its chairman from taking up any official assignment. He said the government has every right to amend the law that does not jell with other laws of the land.
The ruling BJP had already issued a whip to its members to be present in full strength in the Lok Sabha to ensure the Bill does not collapse at the introduction stage itself. It has a thumping majority in the House and hence there was little worry about the numbers. But there will certainly be a problem when the Bill goes to the Rajya Sabha after it is cleared by the Lok Sabha as the BJP does not have a majority there.
The Congress strategy is to create hype against appointment of retired babus by amending the law and then use its strength in the Rajya Sabha to defeat the Bill by roping in other opposition parties. As a Congress MP clarified, “We don’t oppose Misra per se, but we oppose the appointment in principle as you cannot issue an Ordinance just to accommodate one person. When TRAI was made, the rule was that its chairman should not be given any other work. It should not be violated.”
Cong is miffed over LOP post, says Jaitley
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Friday slammed the opposition parties for their stand on appointment of Nripendra Misra saying Prime Minister Narendra Modi has the right to choose his staff. “The Prime Minister has the right to choose his staff. This is sheer politics by the opposition and the Congress. Just because they are upset over the leader of opposition post in the Lok Sabha and Income Tax notice, they are doing this,” Jaitley told CNN IBN. He added, “When we chose Nripendra Misra, we realised that he has been a TRAI regulator. The rule book says that once the regulator is out of regulation, he cannot be employed as a government official for at least two years. But this law says that a regulator cannot ever be a government official. We wanted the TRAI legislation to be fair. The Prime Minister feels that if he wants to hire a former regulator, this law should be in parity with other laws. All government laws regarding regulators must have parity.”
