SHIMLA: The appointment of 6 chief parliamentary secretaries by chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu has courted controversy with opposition BJP planning to approach the court on this issue.
Leader of Opposition and former CM Jai Ram Thakur said that various high courts and the Supreme Court had turned down the past decisions of appointing chief parliamentary secretaries (CPS) and parliamentary secretaries (PS) after finding it in contravention of the Article 164 (1-A) of the Constitution (Ninety-first Amendment) Act, 2003. He said that at present the matter is being examined and after studying the matter legally, BJP will file a petition in the court.
Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Sunday had appointed six MLAs as Chief Parliamentary Secretaries including Sunder Singh Thakur from Kullu Assembly Constituency of Kullu district, Mohan Lal Brakta from Rohru Assembly Constituency of Shimla district, Ram Kumar Chaudhary from Doon Assembly Constituency of Solan district, Ashish Butail from Palampur Assembly Constituency of Kangra district and Kishori Lal from Baijnath Assembly Constituency of Kangra district and Sanjay Awasthi from Arki Assembly Constituency of Solan district.
Jai Ram Thakur, while addressing media persons in Shimla on Monday, said that the Assam government had made an act regarding the appointment of CPS and PS. When this matter went to the court, the Guwahati High Court made it clear that the Legislative Assembly did not have the right to enact an act for the appointment of CPS as this is against the provisions of Rule 164-1A of the Constitution. He said that the Guwahati High Court had struck down this decision of the Assam government and then the matter went to the Supreme Court. He said that the Supreme Court also upheld the decision of the Guwahati High Court.
After this, a similar case came to the fore in Manipur as well and the Supreme Court in this matter had observed last year that matter does not come under the legislative competence so the state cannot enact the Act. He said that the decision to appoint 21 CPS and PS was withdrawn by the Delhi government after the matter reached court.
Jai Ram Thakur said that Article 164 (1-A) was inserted by the Constitution (Ninety-first Amendment) Act, 2003 to limit the number of Ministers, including the Chief Minister, in the Council of Ministers in a State to 15 percent of the total members in the Legislative Assembly of the State and the appointment of chief parliamentary secretaries in Himachal Pradesh is in violation of this Article.
He said that appointment of CPS has increased the financial burden on Himachal Pradesh because they will have to provide a protocol, many offices and facilities of ministerial status. “I would like to draw attention to the past decisions of government of Assam, Manipur and Delhi where the Supreme Court and High Courts have given verdict against the appointment of CPS,” he said.
He said that when the BJP government was formed in Himachal Pradesh in 2017, they faced similar situations as well, but they did not do so respecting the court's decision in principle. He said that but the Congress government has now appointed 6 CPS by giving them cabinet rank. He said that BJP will knock the doors of the court against this. He said that on the one hand, while the Congress government is talking about austerity measures, on the other hand it is spending wastefully by appointing 6 CPS.
Cabinet Ministers Anirudh Singh and Vikramaditya Singh in response have advised the former chief minister and Leader of Opposition Jai Ram Thakur to restrain from issuing baseless and unwarranted statements in a bid to remain in news. They said that the allegation regarding appointment of CPS was also uncalled for.
They reminded Jai Ram Thakur about the appointment of a large number of Chairmen and Vice Chairmen in various Boards and Corporations during the BJP regime. ‘All the dejected and rejected second-line leaders were appointed Chairmen and Vice Chairmen with a sole objective to adjust them by allotting plum postings,’ they added.
The Ministers said that Jai Ram Thakur has no right to speak about the internal matters of the Congress Party. They advised him to focus on his own party as Congress was a grand old party and know how to function in the larger interest and welfare of the people of the State.
