Rajya Sabha TV appointments: Supreme Court asks Prashant Bhushan to approach high court

Noted advocate Prashant Bhushan has moved the court with a PIL exposing irregularities in the appointment of senior officers of the rank of joint secretary and above in the Rajya Sabha (RS) Secretariat, including the officer on special duty to Vice President Hamid Ansari and RSTV CEO and the present secretary general Gurdeep Sappal.

The plea came up before the court of Chief Justice of India H L Dattu, who asked the activist lawyer to approach the Delhi High Court first saying, "in case the court below refused to entertain your plea, then come to us."

In the PIL, Bhushan challenged the validity of clause 6 (A) of the Rajya Sabha Secretariat (Methods of Recruitment and Qualifications for Appointment) Order, 2009 and sought an order directing an inquiry into all the appointments made in the Rajya Sabha Secretariat since 2008.

Alleging that there is absence of rules, the petitioner sought a direction to government to follow Lok Sabha Recruitment and Conditions of Service Orders, for making appointments, both through deputation and promotion, for the posts of joint secretary and above in the Rajya Sabha till the rules were framed.

dna, which has access to some official documents, reported on April 6 that RSTV CEO Gurdeep Sappal is the first ever non-bureaucrat CEO of government-run TV.