Making in amply clear to the Congress led Punjab Government that he was “not a rubber stamp”, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MlA and the leader of Opposition in Vidhan Sabha Sukhpal Khaira on Thursday flayed the autocratic appointment of six member of the Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC) and the two RTI (Right to Information) Commissioners “without following proper laid down procedure”.
Khaira castigated the Punjab Government for adopting a “dictatorial and autocratic” approach to make constitutional appointments. “I am miffed at the way government is trying to go about to appoint six PPSC members and two RTI Commissioners without following proper rules and procedure,” he said. He urged the Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh to reconsider these appointments, call an appropriate meeting of Chief Minister, the Speaker and leader of Opposition to decide afresh.“In case, the government continues to act arrogantly and autocratically, I would give a hard hitting dissenting note against the procedure to show my resentment,” he said.
Recounting, Khaira said that the Personnel Department’s Special Secretary approached him couple of days back to append his signatures on a file containing the names of six PPSC members and two RTI Commissioners cleared by the Chief Minister and the Speaker. “When I confronted the officer as to what was the criteria adopted to shortlist the names of said appointments, the officer failed to give a satisfactory reply,” he said.Khaira said that he was astonished that the Chief Minister wanted the leader of Opposition to approve the names by casually circulating the names of such important constitutional appointments without holding a meeting of the select committee.
“This show how casual and indifferent is the approach of Capt Amarinder Singh to important offices that are supposed to render justice to the people,” he said.
Khaira said that he directed the officer to show him the entire file of proceedings adopted by the government, as to how they shortlisted these appointments out of more than 150 people who had applied for these jobs. He asked whether any screening or search committee interviewed the applicants or gave them any personal hearing, and the government must disclose how the committee fixed merit to decide the appointments.
Saying that he would not act like a rubber stamp or a mute spectator on such vital issues of constitutional appointments, Khaira said that he was astonished that the government sent the file to him after deciding the appointments, whereas rules and decency demands that his concurrence should be taken before deciding the appointments.
“I have already written a DO letter to the Chief Secretary asking him to furnish the criteria, rules and procedure adopted by the government to make these hurried appointments. I am expecting an early reply from the government so that I can decide the next course of action,” he said.