New Delhi:
In a departure from tradition, Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar has appointed at least eight of his personal staffers to various house committees under the upper house. Several congressional leaders have unofficially claimed that it was done “to keep a close eye on various committees, which clearly shows his lack of confidence in the mechanism in place.”
The officers who keep the Secretary General of the Rajya Sabha informed about the developments and deliberations of various committees are appointed by the Secretariat and the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha. The officials are appointed from a common pool set up for this purpose.
A message from the Rajya Sabha Secretariat revealed today that eight new officers have been added to 20 standing committees under the scope of the Rajya Sabha. This is in addition to the existing officers.
The newcomers are non-commissioned officers, who will assist the committees in their functioning. Most of these procedures are treated confidentially.
The opposition called this a “bizarre move” that has no precedent.
The chairman, by appointing these officers from his personal staff, tries to keep a close eye on various committees, the leaders said.
This clearly shows that he has no confidence in the existing mechanism of officers keeping the secretary-general of the Rajya Sabha apprised of various developments in the committee’s deliberations, leaders in the congress added.
Trinamool Congress sources said that auditing of accounts, which was 67 percent in 2014, is now down to 14 percent. There has also been no discussion of Article 267 in the past five years, during the tenure of Dhankhar’s predecessor Venkaiah Naidu. The party will issue a statement on the matter tomorrow, sources said.
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