Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar.
Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar.
Controversy has arisen over a decision of Rajya Sabha Chairman and Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar. Dhankhar has appointed eight members of his personal staff to 20 committees under the purview of the Rajya Sabha Secretariat. Since then, the opposition has criticized it fiercely.
appointment given to these people
The people appointed by the Vice President to the Parliamentary Committee. Those involved are OSD Rajesh N Naik, Private Secretary Sujit Kumar, Additional Private Secretary Sanjay Verma and OSD Abhyudaya Singh Shekhawat. His OSDs, appointed from the Rajya Sabha Chairman’s office, are Akhil Chowdhary, Dinesh D, Kaustubh Sudhakar Bhalekar and PS Aditi Chowdhary.
Opposition reacted
The opposition has strongly criticized these appointments. Congress Rajya Sabha MP Jairam Ramesh has questioned the idea and necessity behind the move. Congress Lok Sabha MP Manish Tiwari tweeted that the Vice President is the ex-officio chairman of the Council of State. He is not a member of the House like the Vice Chairperson or the Panel of Vice Chairpersons. He cannot appoint personal staff to parliamentary standing committees. They do not have this right.
Congress leader Digvijaya Singh tweeted and said that Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar appoints his staff on standing committees. Yes it is unprecedented, but the explanation given is also quite unfair. Does this not reflect the lack of faith of the Rajya Sabha Chairman in the existing staff of the Rajya Sabha Secretariat.
What did the Secretary General of the Lok Sabha say on these appointments?
On these appointments, Lok Sabha Secretary General PDT Acharya said that only MPs in parliamentary committees and employees of the Rajya Sabha or Lok Sabha secretariat can make such demands for assistance. There is no rule under which the Speaker can appoint his personal staff to assist the committees.
