Trai amendment bill passed

The NDA government has managed to remove legal obstacles in appointing Nripendra Misra as Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister after Parliament gave its approval to a legal amendment for validating his appointment on Tuesday.

The Rajya Sabha passed the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Amendment) Bill 2014, paving the way for finalisation of Misra’s appointment.

While securing a nod from the Upper House, the government managed to win over almost all political parties except Congress, Left and JD(U). With 57 members, the ruling NDA is a minority in the 243 member Rajya Sabha and require helping hands from other parties.

The amendment was necessary because as per the existing legislation, Misra – a former chairman of Trai  – could not be reappointed in the government. Within days of becoming the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi picked the 1967 batch Indian Administrative Officer as his Principal Secretary. But because of a legal bottleneck, an ordinance was promulgated on May 28, to clear Misra’s move to the PMO.

The amendment passed by both Houses of the Parliament will replace the ordinance. Similar to the Lok Sabha experience, the surprise supporter of the bill was Trinamool Congress, whose leader Derek O'Brien said, “We are constructive opposition and a destructive one. The Prime Minister wants him for three reasons – number one is good governance, number two is good governance and number three is good governance.”