Relying on the bureaucracy!
Liton's front-page report of April 25, on the lack of rules for utilisation of MPs' discretionary funds is really interesting! Having been elected to parliament, why have regulation on discretion? The maximum limitation on annual basis should do. Possibly this was the logic and thinking, that discouraged the members of parliament to have any rules about it!
However, under the Act, which permits disbursement of this fund, guidelines are there about setting up rules for it. This is what has been ignored since it was introduced in parliament in 1992!
Over sixteen years have gone by, and these rules were never formulated!
It is now being de-facto issued by the parliament secretariat which is being followed by the Hon. Members! This is contrary to the guidelines decided by parliament! This shows that by default, the members of this sovereign body have deferred to, and de-facto accepted the rules set by their secretariat! No wonder the bureaucracy rules the roost!
This should not continue any longer. It is virtually curtailing an important function of parliament and handing it over to bureaucracy!
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