Privilege motion moved against Sukanta Majumdar for misleading Parliament
What's the story
A privilege motion has been moved against junior education minister Sukanta Majumdar after discrepancies were found in the data he provided to Parliament regarding the National Testing Agency's (NTA) income and expenditure. The discrepancies were noted between two sets of data submitted by Majumdar for the financial years 2019-20 to 2023-24. The conflicting information was revealed after Rajya Sabha members Vivek K Tankha and V Sivadasan asked separate questions at separate times on the matter.
Data inconsistency
Members have right to receive truthful information: Sivadasan
The income figures provided by Majumdar for four years were found to be inconsistent, while expenditure figures differed for 2019-20 and 2020-21.
The reply to Sivadasan had higher expenditure figures than the reply to Tankha.
"Members have the right to receive truthful, accurate and consistent information from the government," Sivadasan said, adding that misleading data constitutes a breach of parliamentary privileges.
Data accuracy
Ridicules democratic setup, says former Delhi University member
Abha Dev Habib, a former executive council member of Delhi University, echoed Sivadasan's concerns.
She said providing misleading information to Parliament ridicules the democratic setup.
"Parliament is the forum where the government is supposed to provide accurate data for the knowledge of the members and the public," Habib said.
Financial inquiry
Only 24 employees on deputation exist at NTA: Sivadasan
The NTA's income is primarily from student fees for examinations it conducts, including the NEET.
However, Sivadasan also queried about the agency's staffing.
While Majumdar claimed there are 39 permanent posts in the NTA with contractual staff as needed, Sivadasan contradicted this by saying that no permanent employees have been appointed by the agency.
He said currently only 24 employees on deputation exist at the NTA, with 15 deputation posts remaining vacant.