Parl nod to legal backing for Misra as Principal Secy to PM

Government today secured Parliament's approval for granting legal backing for appointment of former TRAI chief Nripendra Misra as Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a bill to amend the relevant law being passed by the Rajya Sabha.

With all parties except Congress supporting, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Amendment) Bill, passed in Lok Sabha yesterday, had an easy sail in the 243-member Upper House, belying apprehensions as the ruling NDA has only 57 members there.

The Bill replaces an Ordinance which was promulgated on May 28, hours after which Misra had joined the PMO.

A statutory resolution to disapprove the Ordinance on TRAI, brought by T Subbirami Reddy (Cong), was defeated.

Replying to a debate on the bill, Law and Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the measure was brought to remove an anomaly in the existing law that allows a former TRAI Chairman to take up private job two years after retirement but bars the person from taking up a government job ever in life.

"The scope of the bill is very limited and it is to create equality among all regulatory bodies," he said.

He said the 1967-batch IAS officer, who retired as TRAI Chairman in 2009, is a man of integrity and has no connection with Prime Minister Narendra Modi nor has he served in Gujarat.

He said the Prime Minister should have every right to choose his Principal Secretary for good governance.

Reddy said the measure was like a 'Brahmastra' which should be used rarely by the government.

Manishankar Aiyar (Cong) opposed the Bill saying the adoption of the Ordinance route for making the amendment was not correct and the Bill violated the Constitution, which Prasad categorically denied.