Himachal Govt reply sought on petition challenging CPSes’ appointment

Shimla, March 24

The HP High Court has sought the response of the state government on an application seeking to implead six Chief Parliamentary Secretaries (CPSes) as respondents in a pending petition that challenges the vires of the HP Parliamentary Secretaries (Appointment, Salaries, Allowances, Powers, Privileges and Amenities) Act, 2006.

A Division Bench comprising Justices Tarlok Singh Chauhan and Virender Singh issued a notice on a plea filed by an NGO, People for Responsive Governance. The NGO alleged that the appointment of six CPSes violated Constitutional provisions and was bad in the eyes of law.

It was contended in the application that a petition was already pending before this court, wherein the vires of the 2006 Act was challenged and the same was admitted for hearing on June 21, 2017.

The petition said the CPSes were appointed during the Congress rule. In the meantime, the state government changed and the BJP came to power. But the BJP government did not appoint any CPS.

The petitioner urged the court that the Congress again formed government in last December and on January 8 this year, six CPSes — Sanjay Awasthi (Arki), Sunder Singh (Kullu), Ram Kumar (Doon), Mohan Lal Brakta (Rohru), Ashish Butail (Palampur) and Kishori Lal (Baijnath) — were appointed. In view of this development, the CPSes were required to made party respondents in the writ petition.

Rajnish Maniktala, senior advocate for the petitioner, contended that in a similar matter arising out of an Assam Act, the SC had quashed the appointment of CPSes on the ground that the state lacked legislative competence to enact a law authorising such appointments.