Controversy over Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar's decision: 8 officers of personal staff appointed in 20 parliamentary committees

Vice President of the country and Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar has appointed 8 officers from his personal staff to 20 parliamentary committees. Four officers each from the Vice President's Office and the Rajya Sabha Chairman's office have been added to these committees. These officers will assist in the work of the committees, including their secret meetings.

In an order issued on Tuesday, the Rajya Sabha Secretariat said the officers have been added to the committees with immediate effect and until further orders. Opposition parties have opposed this move of the Vice President. Several Congress leaders have alleged that these appointments have been made to oversee the work of the committees.

Officer on Special Duty (OSD) Rajesh N Naik, Private Secretary (PS) Sujit Kumar, Additional Private Secretary Sanjay Verma and OSD Abhyudaya Singh Shekhawat from the Vice President's staff has been added to these committees. On the other hand, Jagdeep Dhankhar's OSD Akhil Chowdhary, Dinesh D, Kaustubh Sudhakar Bhalekar and PS Aditi Chowdhary have been appointed from the Rajya Sabha Chairman's office.

Former Secretary General of the Lok Sabha PDT Archay said that the parliamentary committees have MPs and officers of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha secretariats for help. The Speaker or the Chairman cannot appoint his personal staff to committees. There has never been such an appointment before.

Congress Lok Sabha MP Manish Tiwari said that the Vice President is the ex-officio Chairman of the Rajya Sabha. He is not a member of the House like the Deputy Speaker. How can they appoint their personal staff to the Standing Committees of Parliament? Wouldn't this amount to destroying the institutional structure?

Congress Chief Whip in Rajya Sabha Jairam Ramesh has said that he will take up the issue with the Vice President. He said that I do not understand what is the purpose and need behind this step. Qualified staff of the Secretariat is present in all the committees of Rajya Sabha. These committees belong to Rajya Sabha and not to the Chairman.

There are a total of 24 standing committees in the country. Each has 21 Lok Sabha MPs and 10 Rajya Sabha MPs. Of these 24 committees, 16 work under the jurisdiction of the Lok Sabha Speaker, while 8 come under the jurisdiction of the Rajya Sabha Chairman. Most of the bills are sent to these committees for detailed discussion after they are introduced in the house.