Parliamentary secretaries like interns: Alka Lamba

Twenty-one AAP legislators, appointed parliamentary secretaries last year by the Kejriwal government, have contended before the Election Commission that a parallel should be drawn between their position and that of an intern or volunteer assistant attached to the minister-in-charge.

These MLAs, who are in a dock following President Pranab Mukherjee’s refusal to grant assent to the Delhi Members of Legislative Assembly (Removal of Disqualification) (Amendment) Bill 2015, will soon be summoned by the poll panel for personal hearings before it gives its opinion on their contentious appointment as the parliamentary secretaries to the President for his final decision.

The copies of the replies filed with the EC by the parliamentary secretaries and accessed by this newspaper said that the said posts were mere “posts” as opposed to an “office.”

In her petition, Chandni Chowk MLA Alka Lamba said: “No right or entitlement is attached to the post as is done in an office. Therefore, the creation of the post does not amount to creation of an office.”

“It is submitted that even outside the scope of the order, the minister may seek assistance from any expert adviser or affected citizen at any time. Assisting the minister in itself will not be sufficient to constitute an office. A parallel can be drawn between the position of the respondent and an intern or a volunteer-assistant attached to the minister-in-charge,” Ms Lamba’s petition said. The parliamentary secretaries have argued that their posts cannot be regarded as constituting an office as they were non-remunerative and without a dedicated salary, unlike ministerial posts and no perks were attached to their appointments. They said the impugned order of their appointment merely granted the permission for use of government transport for official work and the same falls within the powers of the chief minister with respect to any duty that the minister may need any assistance from any person.

“It is submitted that by way of the impugned order the parliamentary secretaries have merely been given access to basic infrastructure, as opposed to facilities or luxuries, to enable them to assist the minister-in-charge,” another petition said, adding: “Merely the use of a vehicle or a working space, if at all, cannot by any stretch of imagination be construed as anything more than mere compensatory allowance in the absence of daily allowance, house rent allowance etc.”

All the parliamentary secretaries have argued that the legislators were elected directly by the people and the government does not enjoy any control over them.