A senior minister in the Narendra Modi ministry was advised not to rehabilitate the former’s ‘Man Friday’ in his personal staff, given his alleged dubious reputation. In another instance, the son of senior minister was instructed to stop influencing postings and transfers of officials in his father’s ministry.
In its first 100 days, the Modi-led Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has gone into such details as vetting for ministers their private secretaries. It has also initiated a process to purge or block appointments of anybody whether a private secretary, or in one instance to the panel of Supreme Court judges, if they had affinity to the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.
Some of the appointments, like that of the principal secretary to PM, former Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) chief Nripendra Misra, ran into legal trouble nearly immediately. The Trai Act barred its former chairpersons from taking up government positions, but not a private sector job, until at least two years after retirement. The government brought in an ordinance to remove this “palpable anomaly” to Misra’s appointment; followed by the passage of Trai (Amendment) Bill by the two Houses of Parliament.
The Modi government refused to entertain the Congress’ demand for the post of Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha since the party doesn’t have the requisite 10 per cent MPs in the House of 543.
Last week, SC asked the Centre to reply in four weeks how it planned to appoint the Lokpal. The judges said the committee that selects the members of the ombudsman includes LoP, along with the PM and Chief Justice of India.
The appointment of Y Sudharshan Rao as Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR)’s chief, too, raised eyebrows. Gubernatorial appointments have also been a source of friction between the government and Congress. Governors from the UPA era have eventually quit after either being transferred to northeastern states or being quietly told that their acts of omissions and commissions would be made public.
It is likely that the next 100 days would be as eventful. As the blog ‘Actions not Acts’ on the PM’s personal website narendramodi.in, posted on June 7, forecasts: “As the NDA government settles into office, one thing is clear — here is a government that means business…” It concludes by stating that “for all those not used to” many of the new changes “the only thing to say is — get used to this for the coming years!”
In its first 100 days, the Modi-led Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has gone into such details as vetting for ministers their private secretaries. It has also initiated a process to purge or block appointments of anybody whether a private secretary, or in one instance to the panel of Supreme Court judges, if they had affinity to the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.
Some of the appointments, like that of the principal secretary to PM, former Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) chief Nripendra Misra, ran into legal trouble nearly immediately. The Trai Act barred its former chairpersons from taking up government positions, but not a private sector job, until at least two years after retirement. The government brought in an ordinance to remove this “palpable anomaly” to Misra’s appointment; followed by the passage of Trai (Amendment) Bill by the two Houses of Parliament.
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Later, the government found itself in yet another controversy related to appointment of judges to the Supreme Court (SC). Former Solicitor-General Gopal Subramanium withdrew his consent to be a Supreme Court judge after his wasn’t one of the three names forwarded to the President. Chief Justice R M Lodha said Subramanium’s name was dropped “unilaterally” by the executive, which he thought was “not proper”.
The Modi government refused to entertain the Congress’ demand for the post of Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha since the party doesn’t have the requisite 10 per cent MPs in the House of 543.
Last week, SC asked the Centre to reply in four weeks how it planned to appoint the Lokpal. The judges said the committee that selects the members of the ombudsman includes LoP, along with the PM and Chief Justice of India.
The appointment of Y Sudharshan Rao as Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR)’s chief, too, raised eyebrows. Gubernatorial appointments have also been a source of friction between the government and Congress. Governors from the UPA era have eventually quit after either being transferred to northeastern states or being quietly told that their acts of omissions and commissions would be made public.
It is likely that the next 100 days would be as eventful. As the blog ‘Actions not Acts’ on the PM’s personal website narendramodi.in, posted on June 7, forecasts: “As the NDA government settles into office, one thing is clear — here is a government that means business…” It concludes by stating that “for all those not used to” many of the new changes “the only thing to say is — get used to this for the coming years!”