Southern States - Pondicherry

`Accord independent status to Pondy Assembly Secretariat'

By Our Staff Reporter

Pondicherry June 21. The Pondicherry Assembly Speaker, M. D. R. Ramachandran, has said the Territorial Assembly Secretariat must be accorded independent status and powers enjoyed by the Secretriat of the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha.

There was no need to modernise the Secretariat with new technologies but it should be independent of the executive in all financial, administrative and functional aspects on the pattern of the Legislative Secretriats in other States, he said addressing the Conference of Presiding Officers in Bangalore.

A Copy of his speech delivered in Bangalore was distributed to mediapersons today. He said that budget proposals formulated by the Assembly Secretariat in Pondicherry were being treated like the proposal of any other Government department and much was left to the discretion of the Finance Department.

`Even for extending facilities to the MLAs which are within the powers of the Administration and did not require amendment to Salaries Act, the Finance and Personnel and Administrative Reforms Departments were showing big brother attitude which was not acceptable and appreciable'.

Mr. Ramachandran said that no reply was received for the files sent by the Secretariat to these departments even after lapse of six months.

Without mincing words the Speaker told the meeting that the Secretariat in Pondicherry was neglected in all aspects when it approached the Departments of Finance and Personnel and Administrative Reforms for creation of posts, filling up of vacant posts and financial sanctions.The Secretriat was helpless completely . This showed the attitude of bureaucracy to dominate over democracy and this is a mockery of democracy, he said.

Even after lapse of seven months, the departments had not cleared the proposal of the Secretariat to fill posts of casual labourers. Although the Chief Secretary was having a dual role to play as Secretary to the DP and AR and Secretary to Government for Secretariat, nothing had happened for the Assembly secretariat.

It was ridiculous in a democratic set up that the proposals were to be sent by the Secretariat after approval of the Speaker to the concerned Secretary to the government who is an IAS officer. It was a shameful act to the post held by the Speaker, he told the meeting.

He felt that after the Bangalore conference follow up action be held by the convenor of the conference to have separate meetings with the Presiding officers of the State Legislatures who have special problems for implementation of the decisions taken in the conference. If necessary this conference might recommend to Parliament even to adopt a general law for providing independent status to all State and Union Teritory Legislatures in the country.

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