Vice President and Chairman of Rajya Sabha Jagdeep Dhankhar. file | Photo Credit: ANI
Eight members of the personal staff of Vice President and Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar have been appointed to 20 committees under the purview of the Upper House, according to an order issued by the Rajya Sabha Secretariat on Tuesday, as there are no members. Previous precedent of individual employees serving on committees.
Of these, four employees work in the office of the President and four in the Vice-President’s Secretariat. Each Standing Committee has an Additional Secretary or a Joint Secretary level officer who assists in the functioning of the Committee and who also participates in the meetings, which are strictly confidential.
According to a senior official of the Speaker’s Secretariat, this step has been taken for several reasons. “Recently, researchers working with the ‘Library, Research, Documentation and Information Service (LARDIS)’ were also added to these committees on the instructions of the Chairman and their contribution was highly appreciated. Will contribute to the functioning and apprise the Speaker about the functioning and performance of various committees,” he said.
However, the opposition does not agree with this. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, who heads the Standing Committee on Science and Technology, said the order was “unprecedented and inexplicable”. “As chairman of one of the standing committees, I fail to see the value addition from this unilateral move. These are the Standing Committees of the Rajya Sabha and not the Standing Committees of the Chairman.”
A retired general secretary, on condition of anonymity, said that each committee was served by a joint secretary-level officer, who would inform the general secretary about any developments, if necessary. The Secretary General will keep the Chairman informed on his behalf. Importantly, he said, the chairman of the committee was accountable to Parliament and responsible for the functioning of the committee. “The question here is what is the need to bring in additional cadre of staff when there is already an existing system which works smoothly,” he said.