A parliamentary committee has termed the response of the department of personnel and training as 'disrespectful' and 'inconsiderate' on its proposal for rechristening of central government employees as those of ‘Union of India'.
In its report, the panel asked it to 'enlighten it' whether the term ‘central government' or ‘Union government' was used at the time of framing of the Constitution.
The panel said it is dissatisfied with the response given by the DoPT that substituting the term ‘central government' with ‘Union of India' may be outside its purview.
The committee is unhappy with this disrespectful and inconsiderate response of the ministry (of personnel), it said in the report tabled in Parliament on Thursday.
The committee would like to state that it is conscious of its own mandate as well as the mandate of the ministry of personnel public grievances and pensions.
“The committee observes that its recommendation is well within the boundaries of the constitution and mandate of the committee,” said the report of department-related parliamentary standing committee on personnel, public grievances, law and justice, on demands for grants (2022-23) pertaining to the department of personnel and training.
At this juncture, the committee would like to draw the attention of the ministry to part V of the Constitution of India, entitled, ‘The Union' which includes the Union executive, the Union legislature and the Union judiciary, it said.
It is clear that the founding fathers of our constitution treated these three wings as constituents of the Union, said the report of the committee headed by BJP's Rajya Sabha MP Sushil Kumar Modi.
Since the ministry of personnel public grievances and pensions is the nodal agency for policy matters relating to personnel management as per the allocation of business rules, the committee desires the ministry to 'enlighten it' whether the term ‘central government' or ‘Union government' was used at the time of framing of the Constitution, it said.
In its previous reports, the panel observed that the executive, legislature and judiciary have well defined roles and they all function under the constitution.
These three organs of governance, by and large, constitute the Union government and therefore, it is inappropriate to use the term “central government officials? to those serving the executive wing alone, it said in the report.
The committee desired the term “central government? to be substituted by “Union of India? and the officials of the three organs of the Union government, henceforth, be referred to as “officials of the Union of India”.
The ministry of personnel has, however, categorically stated that the observation of the committee regarding the substitution of the term “central government' with the 'Union of India' may be outside its purview, the report said.
