Appointment of CPS: Himachal Pradesh govt moves SC against HC order

New Delhi: Himachal Pradesh has moved the Supreme Court seeking authorisation of the appointment of six parliamentary secretaries which was recently quashed by the high court recently for being illegal and unconstitutional.

The Himachal Pradesh High Court had on November 13 quashed the appointment of six chief parliamentary secretaries by Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu-led government and declared the law under which they were appointed void.

In its appeal before the top court, the state government said the high court order was "bad in law" and sought a stay on the HC direction.

"The legal consequence would be that six parliamentary secretaries, who are also MLAs, are likely to face disqualification under Article 192 of the Constitution as the protection granted to them from the office of profit norms has been taken away, without adjudication, causing political instability," the appeal filed by the state government said.

While quashing the appointment, the high court had also directed that all the facilities and privileges of the six chief parliamentary secretaries be withdrawn with immediate effect.

The high court had declared the Himachal Pradesh Parliamentary Secretaries (Appointment, Salaries, Allowances, Powers, Privileges and Amenities) Act, 2006 as void.

Pronouncing the verdict, the high court had said the officials are usurpers of public office and all facilities extended to them be withdrawn with immediate effect.

Sukhu had appointed the six chief parliamentary secretaries -- Sanjay Awasthi, the MLA from the Arki Assembly constituency, Sunder Singh from Kullu, Ram Kumar from Doon, Mohan Lal Barakta from Rohru, Ashish Butail from Palampur and Kishori Lal from Baijnath -- on January 8, 2023 ahead of his cabinet expansion.

"The impugned Act is quashed as being beyond the legislative competence of the state legislature and consequently, all subsequent actions, including the appointments of the six CPS are held and declared illegal, unconstitutional, void ab initio and, accordingly, set aside," the high court order had said.

"Since the Act is void ab initio, the respondents (CPS) are usurpers of public office right from their inception and thus, their continuance in the office, based on illegal and unconstitutional appointments, is completely impermissible and from now onwards, they cease to be holders of the office of the CPS with all the consequences," it added.

The protection granted to such appointments to the office of chief parliamentary secretary or parliamentary secretary according to Section 3 read with Section 3(d) of the Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly Members (Removal of Disqualifications) Act, 1971 is also declared illegal and unconstitutional and thus, a claim of such protection under Section 3(d) is inconsequential, and natural consequences and legal implications whereof shall follow forthwith in accordance with law, the order had said.

Two separate pleas were filed by Sat Pal Singh Satti, 10 other Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs and Kalpana Devi, demanding quashing of the Act.

The BJP MLAs had contended that no such post of the CPS exists under the Constitution or any Act passed by Parliament.

It was also averred in the petition filed by the BJP leaders that according to the 91st constitutional amendment, the number of ministerial berths was capped at 15 per cent of the House strength and the maximum number of ministers in case of Himachal Pradesh was 12, but after the induction of the six chief parliamentary secretaries, it had increased to 18.

Sukhu said the judgement would be studied and the cabinet would decide the next step after discussions.

It was for the second time that the appointments of the chief parliamentary secretaries or parliamentary secretaries have been quashed in the hill state.

On August 18, 2005, the high court had quashed the appointments of eight chief parliamentary secretaries and four parliamentary secretaries.

Those affected by the verdict in 2005 were Mukesh Agnihotri, Thakur Singh Bharmouri, Anita Verma, Prem Singh, Tek Chand, Harsh Wardhman Chauhan, Lajja Ram and Harbhajan Singh (chief parliamentary secretaries) and Jagat Singh Negi, Surinder Kumar, Sudhir Sharma and Raghuvir Singh (parliamentary secretaries).