Bangar’s appointment as climate change adviser raises eyebrows, experts say it violates Art 319
CHANDIGARH: The appointment of former Haryana Public Service Commission (HPSC) chairman KC Banger as adviser in the department of environment and climate change by the BJP-JJP government has raised eyebrows. Legal experts said Banger’s appointment violates Article 319 of the Constitution which prohibited members of public service commissions from holding offices on ceasing to be such members.
Article 319 says chairman of the state public service commission (SPSC) shall be eligible for appointment as the chairman or any other member of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) or as the chairman of any other SPSC, but not for any other employment either under the government of India or under the government of a state.
Former Haryana advocate general Mohan Jain said Banger’s appointment is a clear contravention of Article 319. “Appointment is an employment here. It is clear from the reading of Article 319 (B) that being a former state public service commission chairman, Banger is not eligible for any employment under the central or the state government except an appointment as the chairman or member of the UPSC or as the chairman of any other state public service commission,” the former advocate general said.
Govt defends move
Defending the move to appoint Banger as an adviser, officials of the environment and climate change department said Banger will not be paid remuneration by the state government. “He will only be provided with an office. The terms and conditions of his appointment will be issued separately,” said an official, who did not wish to be named.
‘Dangling the carrot may corrupt integrity of institutions’
A 1979 Supreme Court judgment, while elaborating on Article 319, had said this prohibition has been enacted in public interest with a view to ensure that no allurement is held out to the chairman or members of the UPSC or a SPSC which would deflect them from the path of rectitude and duty.
“The public service commission have vast powers of recruitment to an immense and increasing host of government posts and in a country with considerable unemployment, these powers may be prone to be abused if the office of chairman and member of commissions is exposed to executive or political pressures.
The prospect and peril of the executive or the politician trying to influence them overtly or covertly by dangling the carrot or holding out the possibility of employment under the government after the expiry of their term of office may corrupt the integrity of these institutions,” the apex court had ruled.
The apex court also said the word employment is not a word with a single fixed meaning but has many connotations and an employment can be said to be under the government of India if the holder or incumbent of the employment is under the control of the government of India vis-avis such employment.
‘Govt habitual violator of Article 319’
Congress general secretary Randeep Surjewala said the BJP-JJP government in Haryana seems to be a habitual violator of Article 319.
“First the appointment of former HPSC chairman RK Pachnanda as HERC chairman and now appointing KC Banger as advisor, climate change shows this,” he said.