By IANS,
New Delhi : The Rajya Sabha secretariat Wednesday informed the Delhi High Court that it takes “due precautions and measures” while reimbursing the expenses of MPs, so that no unnecessary payment is made to them.
Filing an affidavit before the division bench of Chief Justice D. Murugesan and Justice V.K. Jain, the Rajya sabha Secretariat said: “There are checks and balances in the payments made to MPs. All precautions and measures are taken so that no unnecessary payment is made.”
The reply of the secretariat came in response to a petition seeking direction that MPs should not be given travel expense reimbursement more than the actual amount spent.
The court earlier issued notice to the central government asking it to explain “why extra allowances are allowed to MPs”.
The court sought response from the central government, the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha secretariats and the law and justice ministry.
The petition had also sought directions for audit of travel and dearness allowances (TA/DA) of the MPs by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG).
“With regard to the prayer for audit of TA/DA claims of all members of the Rajya Sabha, it is submitted that the Rajya Sabha Secretariat has a separate audit section where all the bills are audited before making payment,” said the affidavit.
The affidavit added: “The Concurrent Audit Party (CAP) of the Director-General of Audit and Central Revenue (DGACR) does the continuous audit of the payments made by the Rajya Sabha Secretariat, including the TA/DA claims of members of Rajya Sabha.”
The petition was filed by B.N.P Singh, a retired air force wing commander and general secretary of civil society group Veteran’s Forum for Transparency in Public Life.