Himachal Pradesh High Court tells state govt to file reply on appointment of six CPS

Vijay Arora

Legal Correspondent

Shimla, April 12

The HP High Court today sought response from the state government on petition challenging the appointments of six Chief Parliamentary Secretaries (CPS) in the state.

A division bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Sabina and Justice Satyen Vaidya passed this order on a petition filed by Kalpna Devi of Mandi alleging therein that no post of CPS exists under the Constitution of India or under any statue or Act passed by the Parliament of India.

It was alleged that the appointment of six Chief Parliamentary Secretaries (CPS) was in violation of the constitutional provisions and bad in the eyes of law. It was contended that the appointment to the posts of CPS was a burden on the state exchequer to the tune of Rs 10 crores annually.

It was further averred in the petition that the 91st constitutional amendment capped the number of ministerial berths to 15 per cent of the House strength. As per this, there are 12 ministers in the state in consonance with the constitutional amendment as the strength of the Assembly is 68 in the state.

It was alleged that they have been appointed as the CPS, who are de facto ministers without being called so and enjoy all powers and facilities of the ministers.

The petitioner contended in the petition filed on January 8, 2023 that the state government has appointed six CPS, namely Sanjay Awasthi (Arki Assembly constituency), Sundar Singh (Kullu), Ram Kumar (Doon), Mohan Lal Barakta (Rohru), Ashish Butail (Palampur) and Kishori Lal (Baijnath) against the mandate of the Constitution of India.

During the course of hearing, it was informed to the court that one similar petition is already pending before the court. The court ordered to tag this petition with the earlier petition.

Burden on exchequer

• It was alleged that the appointment of six Chief Parliamentary Secretaries was in violation of the constitutional provisions
• The appointment is a burden on the state exchequer to the tune of Rs 10 crores annually
• The CPSs are de facto ministers without being called so and enjoy all powers and facilities that of the ministers