Speaker refuses to relieve House secretary

The ongoing turf war between lieutenant governor Najeeb Jung and the AAP government has escalated further with the Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel turning down Raj Niwas dictat to transfer Assembly secretary Prasanna Kumar Suryadevara to the All India Radio. The services department, on the directions of Raj Niwas, had directed Mr Suryadevara to join back his parent cadre with immediate effect. The Speaker’s office has now directed all the officers to ignore any such order related to the Assembly secretary’s transfer.

In a stern communication to Mr Jung, the Speaker said he has directed Mr Suryadevara to continue as the Assembly secretary till July 16, 2018. The Speaker said that in his 23 years of service, Mr Suryadevara had spent over 12 years consecutively in the legislative arena. Of these 12 years, he said the officer had spent one year in the service of the Parliament of India, thereby gaining expertise and experience in matters pertaining to legislative functioning.

Mr Goel said Mr Suryadevara’s transfer orders had been issued without any communication to his constitutional office. The letter said: “The position of the secretary is very crucial for any legislature. He not only assists the Speaker and the Assembly, but is also the secretary to the committees of the Legislature which keep functioning throughout the year, even when the House is not in session.”

Mr Goel said that the Assembly had recently resolved to form special inquiry committees to look into the alleged irregularities in various matters including those related to restoration of duly cancelled licences to ration shops and CNG fitness testing. He said that the committees had been constituted by unanimous resolution of the House and he had no option but to reiterate the fact that the matters under examination include charges of irregularities levelled against the LG himself.

The letter said: “The special inquiry committees and petitions committee, as reported in the media, have been examining the feasibility of seeking deposition of Shri Najeeb Jung before the committees. For the functioning of these committees as mandated by the House, it is essential that they receive quality assistance from the secretariat which is possible only when there is a competent secretary present and functioning to the full potential and freedom without any interference from any quarter. Moving him out at this juncture, I am afraid, will certainly invite the attention of one and all towards the conflict of interest involved in this exercise.”

Mr Goel said : “With due respect to the office of the Hon’ble lieutenant-governor, I take the issuance of the impugned order referred to in para 1 as an affront to the independence and the Constitutionally guaranteed power of the Legislature. As such, I have directed Shri Prasanna Kumar Suryadevara to continue to discharge his duties as secretary, Legislative Assembly, who is holding an ex-cadre position which is purely under the control of the Speaker, Legislative Assembly. This decision of mine is solely aimed at upholding the Constitution in letter and spirit.”

Mr Suryadevara had been appointed as the Assembly secretary for a period of one year on July 17 last year. But deputy secretary (services) Anupama Chakravorty, AIR’s deputy director (administration) V. Sripathi had recently written stating there has been no recruitment for years in the AIR which had led to acute shortage of staff in all cadres. The letter said that Mr Suryadevara’s deputation had already elapsed on July 16 and requested that the officer be relieved.