RECENTLY, a shocking report by Indian Express stated that the Prime Minister’s Office brazenly interfered in the functional autonomy of the Lok Sabha Secretariat, by instructing it to not admit questions, notices to raise issues in zero hours, or Special Mentions by Lok Sabha MPs, in issues relating the controversial PM CARES fund, the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund, and the National Defence Fund.
It is all the more shocking that the PMO usurped the Speaker’s sole power to decide the admissibility of questions by citing that the rules 41(2) (viii) and 41(2)(xvii) of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Lok Sabha should be invoked to reject the questions asked by Members on those aforementioned Funds. These instructions to the Lok Sabha Secretariat constitute nothing but dictations, even as its autonomy is protected from the executive or any other organ of the State under Article 98 of the Constitution.
Article 98 states that each House of Parliament shall have a separate secretariat staff and recruitment, and the conditions of service of persons appointed, to the secretarial staff of either House of Parliament are determined by recruitment rules which are applied by the sole authority of the Speaker or the Chairman, Rajya Sabha as the case may be.
