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BJP files petition against appointment of Himachal deputy CM, parliamentary secretaries
BJP has filed a petition in the HC against the appointments of chief parliamentary secretaries by the Himachal Pradesh state government. The opposition party has questioned the deputy CM?s appointment, as his oath violated constitutional provisions, and the appointments of CPS, which are viewed as an attempt to beat legislative norms regarding the size of a state?s council of ministers. Notices have been issued to the deputy CM and chief parliamentary secretaries. The BJP is confident of getting justice, as senior advocate Satpal Jain is their counsel.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state general secretary and Bilaspur member of legislative assembly (MLA) Trilok Jamwal on Monday said the party had filed a petition in the Himachal Pradesh high court (HC) against the appointments of chief parliamentary secretaries by the state government.
The petition, which was filed on behalf of BJP legislators on May 4, challenges the appointment of deputy chief minister (CM) and chief parliamentary secretaries.
The HC bench, headed by acting chief Justice Trilok Singh Chauhan, issued notices to deputy CM Mukesh Agnihotri sic chief parliamentary secretaries including Sunder Thakur, Mohal Lal Brakta, Sanjay Awasthi, Ashish Butail, Kishori Lal and Ram Kumar.
The opposition party in the petition questioned the deputy CM’s appointment on the grounds that his oath violated constitutional provisions.
The appointment of chief parliamentary secretaries, meanwhile, has been challenged, being viewed as an alleged attempt to beat legislative norms regarding the size of a state’s council of ministers. Similar appointments were cancelled by the HC in 2005. A Congress government led by the late Virbhadra Singh had been in office at the time.
The petitioners include former BJP state president and Una member of legislative assembly (MLA) Satpal Singh Satti, former assembly speaker and Sulah MLA Vipin Singh Parmar, Naina Devi MLA Randhir Sharma, Churah MLA and former deputy speaker Hansraj.
An office of profit: BJP
Doubling down against the appointments, Jamwal said. “Chief parliamentary secretaries is an office of profit and these appointments are against the constitution. The former Congress government had made appointments to the CPS once before, which was cancelled and after that, the present government has again repeated the same mistake regarding this petition. senior advocate Satpal Jain is our counsel.”
He said the party was confident of getting justice: “We have full faith in democracy and the judiciary. Soon all the CPS will have to leave their posts, restrictions have been imposed in the constitution regarding the Council of Ministers for small states. The state government should work keeping in mind the Constitution.”
He added that there was no mention of a deputy CM post in the Constitution.
