Ignoring rules & red flags, 2 Uttarakhand CMs cleared 227 ad hoc appointments to Vidhan Sabha office

The recruitments by Dhami and Rawat, using discretionary powers, violated the Uttarakhand Vidhan Sabha Secretariat Service Rules 2011: no advertisement was published; names were not obtained from the employment exchange; no test or examination was held; no selection panel was set up; and mandatory provisions regarding reservations were not followed.

According to files, the 227 ad hoc appointments over the past decade were made in three tranches: 149 in 2016 under then Speaker Govind Singh Kunjwal and Chief Minister Rawat, six in 2020 and 72 in 2021 under then Speaker Prem Chand Aggarwal and Chief Minister Dhami. Rawat was Chief Minister from 2014-2017 while Dhami is currently in his second term at the helm after the BJP returned to power in 2022.

Records show the appointments were for a range of middle to lower-level posts: additional private secretaries, House reporters and editors, indexers, research officers, assistant research officers, assistant protocol officers, receptionists, computer operators, computer assistants, technicians, assistant housekeepers, assistant toilet inspectors, drivers, guards, attendants, etc.

On February 11 this year, deciding on a PIL by social worker Abhinav Thapar which cited government rules to seek recovery of expenses incurred in the salary of these appointees from officials, the Uttarakhand High Court noted in the order that “these appointments were made on the direction of the then Hon’ble Speakers with the concurrence of the then Hon’ble Chief Ministers by not accepting the advice of the Vidhan Sabha Secretariat / Departments of the Govt”.

However, citing “the stand taken” by the Vidhan Sabha Secretariat, the High Court did not “deem it appropriate to examine the issue any further” and considered “it appropriate to give quietus to the said aspect”.

Subsequently, in a written reply to this newspaper, Ritu Khanduri Bhushan said: “The CM wrote to me on September 1, 2022 to enquire into the allegations of illegal recruitment in Vidhan Sabha. I constituted a committee of senior retired officers, which found that 228 candidates were recruited against rules, and violated Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution, and recommended termination of these illegal appointments.”

She wrote: “Since these appointments were made with the concurrence of the Chief Minister, it was necessary to seek the approval from the same authority before their termination. The authority approved the recommendation and thereafter these termination were affected.”  The Speaker’s count of 228 includes one ad hoc appointment made before 2016.

Rawat, Dhami, and former Speakers Kunjwal and Aggarwal, did not respond to requests for comment from The Indian Express.

Aggarwal and Kunjwal were not the only Speakers to approve ad hoc appointments. Before the 2011 Recruitment Rules kicked in, 161 ad hoc appointments were made to the new state Vidhan Sabha Secretariat between 2001 and 2007. Another eight ad hoc appointments were made in 2013-2014. All but one of these 169 appointments were regularised in 2013 and 2016.

In September 2022, records show, the inquiry commissioned by Speaker Bhushan had also recommended that these 168 regularised appointments be investigated further and action taken. That probe is still pending.

Two CMs, one pattern

The file notings show that the appointments by the BJP and Congress governments followed a common pattern:

* The Vidhan Sabha Secretariat received undated, near-identical individual applications seeking suitable jobs.

* Based on these applications, the Secretariat prepared notes, mentioning that the applicants were already working in Vidhan Sabha, Dehradun, as “outsourced persons” and that the notes were being put up under the Speaker’s direction for ad hoc appointments.

* None of the notes mentioned any emergency, urgency or exigency regarding work in the Vidhan Sabha, either in Dehradun or Gairsain where summer sessions of the Assembly are held.

* The notes were submitted on files to the Speaker by the office of Secretary, Vidhan Sabha, for orders, mentioning that such ad hoc appointments were not allowed under the 2011 Service Rules and that a Government Order (GO) dated February 6, 2003, had banned such recruitment.

* Yet, the Speakers passed orders on the files following which office orders for the appointments were issued, and the files sent for the state government’s ex-post facto approval.

* However, the departments of Personnel and Finance objected citing rules that allow appointments only through direct recruitment, promotion or transfer of service, deputation or absorption, providing reservation for ST, SC, OBCs and other relevant categories.

* The departments also cautioned that the 2003 GO allowed temporary/ ad hoc/ contractual appointments only in “unavoidable” circumstances on a short-term basis with the nod of the department of Personnel and the council of ministers.

* However, Rawat and later Dhami approved the appointments by exercising their discretionary powers (“Vichalan”) under Rules of Business.

According to the 2003 GO, any violation “would be considered as grave misconduct” and officers involved would face “disciplinary action” with recovery of expenses incurred on salary of irregularly appointed persons”.

Telling timeline

The timeline of the ad hoc appointments under the scanner, between 2016 and 2022, show how the Congress and the BJP ignored service rules:

December 2016: Speaker Kunjwal approved 149 ad hoc appointments.

January 2017: The Personnel department objected to the ad hoc appointments and the Finance department concurred. The same day, then chief minister Rawat approved the file by relaxing the recruitment rules under his discretionary powers — “Vichalan” or deviation — allowed under Rules of Business.

June 2020: Speaker Aggarwal approved six ad hoc appointment orders which were then issued by the Vidhan Sabha Secretariat. The file was moved for the approval of the council of ministers in April 2021.

July 2021: The department of Finance objected to the ad hoc appointments. Chief minister Dhami asked for a clear opinion (“spasht mat”) from the department.

August 2021: CM Dhami wrote on the file: “Approved under Vichalan. Salary can be drawn.” The Finance department fell in line: “Since the proposal has the CM’s approval, the finance dept has no objection.”

December 2021: Ad hoc appointment orders were issued to 72 people on December 27 and 28 with approval from Speaker Aggarwal, who moved the file for the government’s approval on January 3.

January 2022: A day before the Model Code of Conduct for the state elections came into force on January 7, the Finance department wanted to return the file, noting that such appointments and payment of salary were not allowed under the rules.

The next page in the file has an undated handwritten note by Chief Minister Dhami. Referring to the urgency in conducting Vidhan Sabha work in Gairsain before the formation of the new House after the polls, the CM’s note approved the ad hoc appointments under “Vichalan” with an order for salary disbursement to the Personnel department. “Not to be treated as precedent,” the note concluded.

“All the new recruits were posted in Dehradun, not in Gairsain,” a senior Vidhan Sabha official, who did not wish to be named, said.