The News Minute| July 11, 2014| 2.00 pm ISTPrime Minister Narendra Modi and the government seems adamant to retain Nirpendra Mishra as PM's Principal Secretary. Nripendra Mishra was the one chosen to be Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, but his appointment faced a legal hurdle as Mishra, former TRAI chairman was bound by TRAI Act 1997 to not take any government posting for a period of two years.Within days of taking charge, the government promulgated an ordinance amending the act in such a way that it will allow Mishra to take charge.Now the ordinance needs to ratified by both houses of Parliament as it will lapse after six months. As the government placed the controversial ordinance for approval, the opposition protested loudly. Even before the session began, parties like Congress and AAP had made it clear they will not let ordinance through.Congress leader Shashi Tharoor remarked, "We are not against Nripendra Mishra, but we object to the manner in which he is being appointed.""The government has full right to bring any law in the telecom authority. We are only pushing the ordinance based on clear rules and we are quite confident on that," Law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said in the Lok Sabha. With the opposition making it clear that they will not let the ordinance be ratified in Rajya Sabha where the BJP does not have numbers, the government has given indications that it will call a joint session of Parliament.The OrdinanceSection 5 (8) of the TRAI Act 1997 initially read- “The chairperson or any other member ceasing to hold office as such, shall — (a) be ineligible for further employment under the Central government or any state government or (b) not accept any commercial employment, for a period of two years from the date he ceases to hold such office,” says the TRAI Act of 1997 available on the law ministry's website.The ordinance amends this section to read as: "The chairperson and the whole-time members shall not, for a period of two years from the date on which they cease to hold office as such, except with the previous approval of the Central government, accept — "(a) any employment either under the Central government or under any state government; or "(b) any appointment in any company in the business of telecommunication service."Nripendra MishraNripendra Mishra, an IAS officer from the 1967, retired in 2009. Mishra's last posting was that of chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). Misra had held top positions in many ministries and also held key posts in the Uttar Pradesh government.Mishra, a crucial witness in the 2G case had debunked A Raja's first-come-first-serve basis policy. Mishra countered Raja's claim and maintained TRAI had recommended that entrants be brought through an auction process.A Raja was defending himself claiming he had followed what TRAI had suggested in 2007, Mishra said his recommendations were being “cherry-picked”, rather than being implemented in full.