NEW DELHI: The Himachal Pradesh government has moved the Supreme Court seeking authorisation of the appointment of six parliamentary secretaries which was recently quashed by the high court for being “illegal and unconstitutional”.
The Himachal Pradesh High Court had on November 13 quashed the appointment of six chief parliamentary secretaries by Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu-led government and declared the law under which they were appointed void.
In its appeal before the top court, the state government said the high court order was “bad in law” and sought a stay on the HC direction. “The legal consequence would be that six parliamentary secretaries, who are also MLAs, are likely to face disqualification under Article 192 of the Constitution as the protection granted to them from the office of profit norms has been taken away, without adjudication, causing political instability,” the appeal said.
Sukhu had appointed the six chief parliamentary secretaries — Sanjay Awasthi, the MLA from Arki constituency, Sunder Singh from Kullu, Ram Kumar from Doon, Mohan Lal Barakta from Rohru, Ashish Butail from Palampur and Kishori Lal from Baijnath — on January 8, 2023 ahead of his cabinet expansion.
While quashing the appointment, the high court had directed that all the facilities and privileges of the six chief parliamentary secretaries be withdrawn with immediate effect.
The high court had declared the Himachal Pradesh Parliamentary Secretaries (Appointment, Salaries, Allowances, Powers, Privileges and Amenities) Act, 2006 as void.
Pronouncing the verdict, the HC had said the officials are usurpers of public office and all facilities extended to them be withdrawn with immediate effect.