THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Finance Department received a terse tongue-lashing from Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan on Monday for meddling with the independent nature and authority of the Legislature Secretariat and the Assembly Speaker. On June 20, Congress’ V D Satheesan had raised a point of order in the House accusing the Finance Department of certain actions that question the exclusive financial jurisdiction of the Speaker. Finance Minister T M Thomas Isaac had denied the charges then.
But in his ruling on Monday, the Speaker said that certain instances confirming Satheesan’s allegations had indeed come to the notice of the Chair. He expressed ‘’deep concern’’ over such undesirable tendencies on the part of Finance Department officials. He also lauded Satheesan for raising the matter.
Satheesan had alleged that even officers of subordinate ranks were ratifying orders issued by the Speaker and making corrections or adding adverse remarks. The situation is such that officers of the third and fourth rungs of the Finance Department are meddling with the independence and powers of the Assembly and the Speaker, Satheesan had said on June 20.
According to the Speaker, neither the Kerala Legislature Secretariat (Recruitment and Conditions of Service) Rules, 1979, nor the Personal Staff of Speaker, Deputy Speaker and Chairmen of Financial Committee Rules require the Legislature Secretariat to get prior approval of the Finance Department.
This being so, it is not desirable that officers of the Finance Department should make ‘’unnecessary remarks’’ in the files sent sent from the Legislature Secretariat for follow-up action even in matters that come under the ultimate authority of the Speaker, Sreeramakrishnan said. In one such file, the Finance Department officer had not even followed proper procedure. The officer neither had mentioned the GO or condition on the strength of which he had made remarks in the file nor given his/her name.