Delhi Assembly secretary term is extended by two years

Rejecting the public broadcaster Prasar Bharti’s request to repatriate Delhi Assembly secretary Prasanna Kumar Suryadevara, the Speaker Ram Niwas Goel said that he has been given a two-year extension of his deputation.

Delhi government officials said the Speaker has the power to extend deputation of any officer working in the assembly secretariat.

“We have given him extension of two years. Mr Prasanna is not going anywhere. He will work with us till 2018,” Goel told a news agency.

In a letter to Delhi government’s services department last month, Prasar Bharti had stated that Mr Suryadevara should be repatriated with immediate effect as it is facing acute shortage of staff. Mr Suryadevara, an official belonging to newsreader-cum- translator (Telugu) cadre, was appointed to the post of Delhi Assembly secretary in July last year, initially for a period of one year. When his one-year deputation period ended this July, the Assembly Speaker had requested the Prasar Bharti to extend his stay in the current position.

However, Prasar Bharti expressed inability to extend Suryadevara’s deputation. Mr Suryadevara had served Lok Sabha for five years and Rajya Sabha for over six years through the offices of Lok Sabha Speaker and Rajya Sabha chairman, respectively.

Questioning the Prasar Bharti’s move, a Delhi government official wondered why such a request was not made when Mr Suryadevara was working for Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. In a letter to the services department, Prasar Bharti’s deputy director V. Sripathi had said, “As this directorate is in dire need of experienced professionals, the directorate expresses its inability to concur with the desire of the Speaker.”