India
Himachal Pradesh asks Supreme Court to approve appointment of parliamentary secretaries | India News – Times of India
The Sukhu-led government has rushed to SC to sanction the appointment of six parliamentary secretaries
The Sukhu government, which had been grappling with internal discord for some time now, reflected in the loss of Congress candidate AM Singhvi after a draw with the BJP candidate in the Rajya Sabha elections in February, showed its real concern.
“The legal consequence would be that six Parliament Secretaries, who are also MLAs, are likely to be disqualified under Article 192 of the Constitution because the protection afforded to them by the profit standards office has been taken away without any judgment, causing political instability,” the state government said.
It questioned the correctness of the HC verdict of November 13 and sought a stay. The appeal is likely to be referred to CJI Sanjiv Khanna for an urgent hearing on Monday.
The state government said HC erred in finding similarities between Himachal Pradesh Parliament Secretaries (Appointment, Salaries, Allowances, Powers, Privileges and Facilities) Act, which was enacted in 2006 by the Virbhadra Singh-led Congress government , and the Parliamentary Secretaries of Assam (appointment, salaries and benefits). Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 2004, which was enacted by the Tarun Gogoi-led Congress government.
It was said that while the Assam law gave the status of ministers to parliamentary secretaries, this was not the case under the Himachal law.
The Sukhu government said that while parliamentary secretaries in the state were not receiving salaries equivalent to ministers, HC was undertaking a ‘splitting of hairs’ exercise to equate parliamentary secretaries as part of the political executive even though they did not perform any executive functions .
Senior advocate Maninder Singh, appearing for a petitioner from the Bharatiya JanataParty MLA, had refuted the state’s arguments, advanced by senior advocates Dushyant Dave and Vivek Tankha, by relying on the SC judgment quashing the Assam law , an argument accepted by the HC.
