The maintenance of the now defunct independent commissions costs the government millions of rupees.

Terms of the National Police Commission (NPC) and the Public Service Commission (PSC) ended in April this year and are now defunct due to the inability to appoint members to these commissions.

The expenditure on the defunct NPC for the month of June alone is over Rs. 3 million - Rs. 1.5 million on salaries, Rs. 700,000 on allowances, Rs. 723,000 on building rent and Rs. 200,000 on water and electricity had been spent in June. These amounts do not include the money spent on hiring vehicles.

The total expenditure of the NPC for the year is Rs. 46 million.

NPC Secretary, K.C. Logeswaran confirmed to The Sunday Leader that over Rs. 3 million was being spent to maintain the commission.

According to Logeswaran, the Commission could function till the end of the year as three members still continue to function. "The Commission is short of one member for the quorum."

He said that after April the Commission continued with certain statutory work vested with it until the Cabinet decided to delegate the NPC and PSC work to the relevant ministry secretaries. "With this decision most of the work we (NPC) did has been taken away."

However, Logeswaran said that when the Cabinet arrived at the decision, it had overlooked several key areas that were covered by the independent NPC.

The fundamental right of appeal given to members of the police force and the public that was held by the NPC under the 17th Amendment has been taken away and has not been allocated to any ministry secretary either.

Police constables had the right to appeal against decisions they did not agree with and to seek relief. "The right of appeal of the police constables and the public right to appeal/complain has not been addressed in the Cabinet decision. Therefore, these issues are not being addressed any more," Logeswaran said.

Meanwhile, millions are also being spent to maintain the now defunct PSC as well.

PSC Secretary, H.D.L. Goonawardena was not available for comment.