One of the first steps of the Narendra Modi government has become a stumble. As it hastened to appoint a principal secretary of the prime minister’s choosing, the government overlooked the fact that the candidate, Nripendra Misra, as a former chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) was ineligible to join the government in any position because Section 5(8) of the Trai Act, 1997, explicitly forbids it.
Then, instead of waiting to amend the act in Parliament, and explaining why it felt the legal bar on post-retirement jobs was too sweeping, the government issued an ordinance, so that Misra could report to work. The episode frames a seeming impatience with legal requirements in a case that involves an individual rather than an urgent point of principle. It could have anyway been settled in the government’s favour as soon as Parliament convenes.
The Modi government has barely begun work, and it is too soon to judge its approach towards institutions. But given the power it commands in the legislature and the top-down nature of the executive, it is especially important that the government allays suspicions about the way it will use its enormous power, and conveys its respect for institutional checks and balances.
