The Congress has sought to move a privilege motion over Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Tarun Vijay’s appointment as the National Monuments Authority (NMA) chairman, saying the appointee does not meet the criteria laid down under a law passed by the Parliament for the post.
Congress’s chief whip in Rajya Sabha Jairam Ramesh wrote a letter on Thursday to Venkaiah Naidu, the chairman of Parliament’s Upper House, for the privilege motion. He pointed out that Vijay, a former editor of the weekly Panchajanya of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the BJP’s ideological fountainhead, is ineligible for the post. Ramesh said the appointment makes a mockery of the law.
Ramesh cited the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains (Amendment and Validation) Act’s Section 20F and added it stipulates that the chairman to be appointed should have proven experience and expertise in archeology, town planning, architecture, heritage, conservation architecture, or the law. “For the first time, I find that the government of India has appointed a chairperson whose education and professional background does not, in any way whatsoever, meet the requirements of the law as stipulated mandatorily by Parliament,” wrote Ramesh in the letter, a copy of which HT has seen.
While objecting to the appointment, the Congress MP said that the “educational and professional background does not, in any way whatsoever, meet the requirements of law as stipulated mandatorily by Parliament”.
“I would like to move a privilege motion against the Union Minister of Culture in this regard for willfully disregarding the provisions of law passed by Parliament. He has, in fact, made a mockery of this law,” Jairam Ramesh said in his letter.
“Chairperson, on a whole-time basis, to be appointed by the President, having proven experience and expertise in the field of archaeology, country and town planning architecture, heritage, conservation architecture or law,” Jairam Ramesh said.