Blow for Sukhu as HC quashes appointments of 6 CPS
Shimla: In a huge blow to Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, the Himachal Pradesh High Court on Wednesday quashed the appointments of six chief parliamentary secretaries (CPS) and directed the government to withdraw all facilities and perks granted to them from
January 8, 2023.
In the landmark order, the high court also quashed the HP Parliamentary Secretaries (appointment, salaries, allowances, powers and privileges & amenities) Act, 2006, which had enabled the state government to appoint MLAs as parliamentary secretaries.
The order was passed on a set-up of petitions filed by senior BJP MLA Satpal Satti and 11 other MLAs besides a PIL of one Kalpana Devi, which had questioned the constitutional validity of their appointments and asked for their removal, also being a burden on the state exchequer.
After Sukhu had become the CM, he had inducted seven MLAs as his Cabinet ministers in January 2023 but the same day he appointed six MLAs — Ram Kumar Chaudhary (Doon), Mohan Lal Brakta (Rohru), Ashish Butail (Palampur), Sanjay Awasthi (Arki), Sunder Singh Thakur (Kullu), Kishori Lal (Baijnath) — as his CPS. They were also allocated departments and attached with Cabinet ministers. Awasthi was attached with the CM besides being the health minister.
They are also given offices, vehicles, residence and also allowed to have access to the government files beside higher salaries as compared to MLAs and secretariat staff.
In a 33-page judgement, a division bench of Justice Vivek Singh Thakur and Justice Bipin Chander Negi while passing the orders said the appointments were beyond the competence of the government as the Act also violated the Constitution or any statutes.
The bench was of the opinion that the CPS Act 2006 was a clear transgression of the mandatory constitutional prohibition and mandatory constitutional limitation contained in the Article 164(1-A) of the Constitution.
The court said: “If there is a constitutional provision inhibiting the Constitutional authority from doing an act, such provision cannot be allowed to be defeated by adoption of any subterfuge. That would be clearly a fraud on the constitutional provision.”
MLAs in Himachal are entitled to a salary of Rs 55,000 per month, whereas a CPS and a parliamentary secretary are entitled to R 65,000 and 60,000 per month, respectively.
