The oaths were administered by Vajpayee himself at an unusual ceremony at Race Course Road this morning. Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Jaswant Singh also took similar oaths. No one else from the Government attended the function.The move appears to have been prompted by the murmurs over Mahajan's appointment. It has no precedence and was criticised publicly by the Congress and privately by BJP circles, the main objection being that Mahajan would have access to official documents and government secrets without a legitimate status.

Mahajan obliquely admitted to the controversy this morning. ``It was considered better that I took an oath of secrecy,'' he told correspondents, adding that from now on there would be no bar on him against attendingofficial meetings if the Prime Minister so desired.

The justification for the move was found in files dating back to Rajiv Gandhi's tenure. Gandhi had appointed three political secretaries soon after he assumed office Ahmed Patel, Oscar Fernandes and Arun Singh. All three were administered oaths of secrecy by him.However, there is no precedence for an oath of office and secrecy by the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission. Madhu Dandavate, who held the post under the United Front Government, told The Indian Express that he never took any oath but attended all cabinet meetings as per a decades-old convention for the head of the Planning Commission.

In fact, in keeping with past practice, Vajpayee had issued a permanent invitation to Singh to attend cabinet meetings as soon as he appointed him to the Planning Commission.

While there was no imperative to put Singh through a swearing-in ceremony, clearly, Vajpayee felt compelled by the criticism around him to give Mahajan a veneer ofrespectability.

Official sources, however, clarified that the ceremony this morning does not confer on Mahajan membership of the Union Council of ministers. He can be ``in attendance'' at cabinet meetings, but only on an invitation from the PM.

Nor can official files be routed to him directly. They can only be passed on to him by the PM.

Constitutional expert Rajeev Dhawan felt that the ceremony was ``neither necessary nor proper''. He said a simple signed declaration, similar to the one all civil servants give when they join government service, would have served the same purpose.