The Himachal Pradesh High Court on Wednesday termed as unconstitutional the appointment of six chief parliamentary secretaries (CPS) and ordered their immediate removal along with all benefits and perks.
A division bench of the High Court headed by Justice Vivek Thakur and Justice Bipin Chander gave the final order. Two separate petitions had been filed challenging the appointment of the six CPS, including a PIL by Kalpana Devi and the other by 11 BJP legislators, including Sat Pal Satti.
The High Court also set aside the Act under which the appointment of the CPS had been made. The court termed the appointment of the CPS as wastage of public funds while ordering immediate withdrawal of all facilities extended to them.
The six CPS whose appointment has been ordered are Kishori Lal (Baijnath in Kangra), Mohan Lal Brakta (Rampur in Shimla), Ram Kumar (Doon in Solan), Ashish Butail (Palampur in Kangra), Sunder Thakur (Kullu) and Sanjay Awashty (Arki in Solan).
The six CPS had been appointed on January 8, 2023 just before the induction of seven ministers in the cabinet by Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu.
It was on August 18, 2005 that the High Court had set aside the appointment of eight CPS and four parliamentary secretaries.
Those who were removed in 2005 were Mukesh Agnihotri, Thakur Singh Bharmouri, Anita Verma, Prem Singh, Tek Chand, Harsh Wardhan Chauhan, Lajja Ram and Harbhajan Singh. The four parliamentary secretaries were Jagat Singh Negi, Surinder Kumar, Sudhir Sharma and Raghubir Singh.
Advocate General Anup Rattan said the state government would challenge the High Court order of terming the post of CPS and PS as unconstitutional in the Supreme Court. “Since the Act in Himachal is different from the Act in Assam, where too the appointment of the CPS has been set aside, the state government will challenge the order in the apex court,” the AG said.
Rattan said that unlike in Assam, in Himachal the CPS or PS were not giving any approval on files while in Assam they were exercising the powers of ministers. In Himachal, the CPS only advised the ministers.