Himachal HC restrains Chief Parliamentary Secretaries from functioning as ministers, availing exclusive amenities
Jan 03, 2024
Shimla (Himachal Pradesh) [India], January 3 : The Himachal Pradesh High Court has passed an interim order in the chief parliamentary secretaries' (CPS) case and has restrained them from functioning as ministers.
According to the advocate of the petitioner, the CPS will not be able to function as ministers as per the interim order of the High Court. The advocate general of the Himachal Pradesh High Court said that as per the Act of 2006 of the state government Chief Parliamentary Secretaries (CPS) do not function as Ministers. The matter is now listed for March 12, 2024.
"The Chief Parliamentary Secretary and Parliamentary Secretary's appointment salaries, allowances, power, privilege and amenities Act 2006 have been challenged by the apex court. After 16-17 years this has been challenged, the members of the Assembly can only be appointed as CPS," Advocate general Anup Kumar Rattan said.
"The interim orders have been passed but we have made it clear that the Parliamentary Secretaries neither can acknowledge any proposal, they only can give suggestions to the ministers. They don't have any such power; the Court has said that no CPS or PS will perform the duties of the ministers. I think they will continue to work as CPS, the CPS are only giving suggestions to the ministers and they are attached to the ministers. Government would argue on the matter on March 12, 2024," he added.
"A similar order was passed in the High Court of Chhattisgarh where the court had made it clear that the CPS was not violating Article 164(1)(a) and we have a similar case now as of Chhattisgarh. In HP High Court also we are expecting a positive order," the Advocate General further said.
The BJP MLAs have challenged the appointments in the High Court. On behalf of the petitioners, senior advocate Satyapal Jain gave information about the orders.
"This is an interim order which we call a stay order, after the formation of the government in Himachal Pradesh. Six MLAs were appointed as Chief Parliamentary Secretary. Two petitions were filed in the High Court challenging their appointments. One was filed by an individual Kalpana devi and another was filed by 12 MLAs of BJP," Satpal Jain, Advocate of Petitioner said.
"The hearing is underway in the high court continuously. The 12 BJP MLAs have applied also that they should be restrained from functioning as ministers. We have completed the argument and advocates of the CPS have also completed the argument and today the court has given an interim order. All ministers will not be able to function as ministers. And will not be able to avail facilities and privileges of ministers. They can't function as ministers; the copy of the court will be out tomorrow," he added.
