Dhankhar’s decision clearly meddlesome

There is no good and valid reason for Vice-President Jagdish Dhankhar’s decision to appoint eight members of his personal staff on various parliamentary committees and department-related standing committees under the Rajya Sabha. There are 20 such committees consisting of Rajya Sabha members—12 standing committees and eight department-related ones. The Rajya Sabha Secretariat announced last week that the officers have been attached to the committees “with immediate effect and until further orders”. They are expected to assist the committees in their work, which includes meetings that are confidential in nature. It was claimed that the additions would supplement the existing staff and offer support to the respective committees. They would also help to give better research inputs to the committees. Another claimed benefit was the exposure of officers to different facets of the Rajya Sabha. But the decision has invited strong criticism from the Opposition.

Committees have an important role in the scrutiny of legislation before their passage in parliament. By definition and practice, they comprise only members of the House and the Rajya Sabha staff who offer assistance to the members. The personal staff of the Speaker of the Lok Sabha or the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha are not part of parliamentary secretariats and so they have no role on the committees. There is also no rule which enables the Speaker or the Chairman to make such appointments. The existing committees have not made a demand for such appointments, either. No Chairman of the Rajya Sabha has in the past attached his personal staff to the committee. It is said that the presence of such persons would compromise the confidentiality of the proceedings of the committees which sometimes deliberate on sensitive matters. It was stated that the decision was taken on the basis of consultations. Dhankhar has explained that he has ‘’put knowledgeable people to help MPs,” and that some of them are IAS and IFS officers and experts. He also said that he has done so to improve the productivity of the committees. But the Opposition has denied that there was any consultation. It sees Dhankhar’s decision as a move to change the structure of the standing committees and as violative of established parliamentary procedures.

The system of parliamentary committees has become established in the country. Many bills are referred to the committees after they are introduced in the House. Their work is important because the Houses often do not get the time, for various reasons, to discuss and debate the provisions of legislation. Decisions to change established systems should be based on consultations and consensus. Otherwise they become counter-productive.