Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has appointed former director general of police Pervaram Ramulu as the chairman of Telangana State Tourism Development Corporation in March this year.
He is being paid a salary of Rs 1 lakh per month towards salary, coveyance allowance of Rs 30,000, fuel charges of Rs 15,000, medical reimubursement on par with ministers/IAS officers.
While Pervaram is enjoying his post of ‘cabinet rank’ for over six months now, his appointment came under question with Telugu Desam citing ‘violation of constitutions norms’ by Telangana government.
TDP MLA from Jubilee Hills Maganti Gopinath complained to President Pranab Mukherjee, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and governor ESL Narasimhan pointing out that his appointment made by Telangana government in March this year for a term of three years was in violation of Constitutional norms.
Gopinath’s objection is that Pervaram Ramulu served as chairman of AP Public Service Commission in Undivided State from Septemer 2003 to July 2005 after his retirement as DGP in July 2003 and as per Constitutional norms he was not eligible for any posts in Centre or state governments after his retirement from APPSC.
Mr Gopinath cites Article 319 (b) of the Constitution in support of his complaint, which says, "the Chairman of a Public Service Commission shall be eligible for appointment as the Chairman or any other member of the Union Public Service Commission or as the Chairman of the State Public Service Commission, but not for any other employment either under the Government of India or under the Government of a State."
"Despite this, Chief Minister K.Chandrasekhar Rao has appointed him as chairman of TSTDC with a cabinet rank, which is unconstitutional. We have already took up the issue with President, PM and Governor. We demand the governor to immediately cancel the appointment of Pervaram Ramulu and uphold the constitutional norms. We also demand the governor to recover the amount that was paid to Pervaram Ramulu towards salaries and other perks since his appointment," Mr Gopinath demanded.
It remains to be seen how CM KCR and Pervaram Ramulu comes out of this controversy.
