Uproar in Parliament over move to amend TRAI Bill

The amendment would clear legal hurdles in the appointment of Nripendra Misra as principal secretary

The opposition today protested the Modi's government's move to amend the TRAI Act, which would remove  legal hurdles in the appointment of former TRAI chairman Nripendra Misra as principal secretary.

 

The Congress and Left MPs protested the move after the Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha by Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad. 

 

BJP has issued a whip to its members in the Lok Sabha to support the Bill, said a BJP Lok Sabha member.

 

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) (Amendment) Bill, 2014 seeks to replace an ordinance which was issued earlier to remove the hurdle for apppoinment of the 1967-batch IAS officer to the post.

 

Before the ordinance was promulgated, the TRAI Act prohibited its chairman and members from taking up any other job in the central or state governments after demitting office.

 

"The chairperson or any other member ceasing to hold office as such, shall (a) be ineligible for further employment under the central government or any state government or (b) not accept any commercial employment, for a period of two years from the date he ceases to hold such office," said the TRAI Act of 1997 available on the Law Ministry's website.

 

To circumvent this section, which would have barred 69-year-old Misra from taking up the post of the principal secretary to the PM, the Modi government promulgated an ordinance which amended it.

 

Misra is an IAS officer from the Uttar Pradesh cadre and his appointment as principal secretary will be co-terminus with the term of the PM or till further orders, according to an order issued by the Ministry of Personnel.

 

The principal secretary to the PM is a key post and acts as main link for coordination among Prime Minister's Office, cabinet secretariat and secretaries of ministries.