NEW DELHI, June 19: With the Government easing out political appointees of the previous UPA rule, the heads of various bodies, including National Commission for Women, SC Commission, ST Commission and Indian Council for Cultural Research (ICCR) could be in the firing line.
For the record, NCW Chairperson Mamta Sharma, SC Commission Chairman P L Punia and ICCR President Karan Singh, insisted that they had received no communication from the Government asking them to quit.
However, such a directive cannot be ruled out considering the Narendra Modi Government’s move to ease out political appointees of the former Congress-led Government from various significant positions.
The Government today asked all members of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to resign.
NCW Chairperson Mamta Sharma, when contacted, said, “I do not have any such information. These are all rumours.”
The Women and Child Development Ministry, the nodal ministry for NCW, refused to confirm it.
Sources in the ministry, however, said, “If somebody is appointed purely on political consideration, then it is expected that the person will tender his or resignation when a Government changes.”
ICCR President Karan Singh, who is in Srinagar, also said that he had not heard anything from the Government on the issue.
The tenure of Singh, the longest serving ICCR President, is anyway coming to an end on August 19 after three terms of three years.
National Commission for SC Chairman P L Punia also said he has not received any communication from the Government.
“I have not received any communication from the Government, formally or informally, seeking my resignation. Moreover, I cannot be removed from the post of NCSC chairman since, I am heading a constitutional body and the warrant of appointment was signed by the President,” Punia said.
Top sources in the ST Commission also denied the reports about the Government seeking resignation of its Chairman Rameshwar Oraon.
The chairperson of National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) Kushal Singh has already been asked to quit by the Women and Child Development Ministry.
Refusing to obey, she has moved the Delhi High Court seeking directions to the Ministry not to remove her without following the procedure laid down in the Commission for Protection of Child Right Act. Her tenure ends on October 10 this year.
The Court has sought the Centre’s response to Singh’s plea and issued notice to the WCD ministry seeking its reply by July 28.
Singh had reportedly received calls from the WCD Ministry on May 30 and June 2, asking her to resign as the NCPCR chief.
“If ministries start giving orders like this, then Commissions cannot function properly. I believe people who are serving tenure should not be removed because of a change in Government,” she told reporters here today.
“I went to the court as there was a situation of indecision after I received calls from two ministry officials asking me to quit,” Singh said. (PTI)
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