The Punjab government has thrown all rules to winds and appointed former Information Commissioner Darbara Singh Kahlon as adviser to Education Minister Sewa Singh Sekhwan. According to departmental service rules,there is no sanctioned post of adviser to any minister. The minister already has an OSD,who is deputed with the minister from Markfed. The OSDs are paid salary from their parent department,which is not the case in this appointment of the new adviser,as he is retired school teacher. Also as per precedent,after serving as the information commissioner a statutory post one does not hold any other posts after relinquishing charge. The education department already has a principal secretary level officer,four additional secretaries and four directors and one director general education. The role of the adviser is still not clear, said an official. When asked,Sekhwan said: I have appointed him as my adviser but only as a honorary adviser. He is not being given salary and does not enjoy any other perks,so no rules have been violated. He is every competent person and there is no problem in him being appointed as adviser after being the information commissioner. Kahlon,when asked to comment,said: The minister has written to the chief minister for approval of this post,I am working as honorary adviser at present. I was going to Canada with my family when I was told to offer my services for the education department,so I did. I am an educationist and shall help in bringing reforms in the field of education. Lots of work needs to be done in this field. I am an adviser to the minister and the position is not lower than the post of information commissioner,which I held before, he added. A press release issued by the public relations department some time ago had stated that Kahlon has been appointed as adviser to the education minister and he has assumed his office. Past precedents have seen advisers being appointed only to chief ministers. The practice is still continuing as Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has two advisers Daljeet Singh Cheema is his political adviser and Harcharan Bains the media adviser. Meanwhile,Punjab Congress vice-president Lal Singh said: It is for the first time that such an appointment has been made. It is not according to rules and no approval has been taken from the administrative as well as the finance department. Whether one is paid is a different aspect. The basic question is why does the minister need an adviser? Former Advocate General R S Cheema,however,claimed that there is no problem if Kahlon works only as a honorary adviser.
