Setting an example for other Northeastern states, all seven parliamentary secretaries in Mizoram on Friday resigned in the wake of the Supreme Court July 26 ruling on the The Assam Parliamentary Secretaries (Appointment, Salaries, Allowances and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 2004. 
 

The Bench comprising Justice J Chelameswar, Justice R K Agrawal and Justice A M Sapre held that Assam legislature lacked competence to create the post of parliamentary secretaries. It declared that the appointment of parliamentary secretaries in Assam was unconstitutional. The apex court while passing the order said that the state Assembly was not competent to pass such an Act. With the apex court scrapping the Assam Act, similar Acts in other states too now automatically become null and void.

 

Nagaland has 26 Parliamentary Secretaries, Meghalaya (17) Manipur (12) and Mizoram (7).

While Tripura has never appointed a parliamentary secretary, the present BJP-led government in Assam has also not appointed any till now.

 

At 31, Arunachal Pradesh has the highest number of parliamentary secretaries. The Parliamentary Secretary position was created with the intention of accommodating legislators who did not find place in ministries after the 91st Amendment to the Constitution that had restricted the size of ministries to a maximum of 15 per cent of the total Assembly strength.

 

Parliamentary Secretary post is all about political appeasement and in reality has no benefit for the public. It is a huge waste of public money and is a huge burden on the state exchequer.They are given the rank and status of a minister of state and exercise such facilities and powers.

 

Since Mizoram has got the ball rolling, it will be interesting to see, how Arunachal will respond to this new order.

 

 

 

--

 

 

---

Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

<< Back to News List