E-Paper
HC upholds Suresh Kumar’s appointment as chief principal secy to former Punjab CM
Suresh Kumar’s appointment was challenged by one Ramandeep Singh, claiming that he had become a ‘de facto CM’ of Punjab and was empowered by the government to make decisions on behalf of the chief minister
The Punjab and Haryana high court has upheld the appointment of retired IAS officer Suresh Kumar as the chief principal secretary to former Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh.
The judgment by the bench of Justice AG Masih and Justice AK Verma was pronounced recently. However, the detailed judgment is awaited. Kumar had resigned immediately after Captain Amarinder Singh put in his papers in September 2021.
A 1983-batch IAS officer, Kumar was appointed immediately after the Congress government took charge in Punjab in March 2017. The post created for the first time in Punjab was stated to be equivalent to a cabinet secretary of the central government.
Kumar was being paid ₹2.5 lakh per month. His appointment was quashed by a single-judge bench of HC in January 2018. The bench had held that Kumar was holding the public office without authority and overriding powers given to him without any accountability.
Following that order, Kumar had resigned, but rejoined after the order was stayed by the division bench on February 14, 2018, acting on a plea from the state. The case could not be taken up for hearing between March 2020 and July 2021 due to the Covid pandemic. After day-to-day hearings in July-August 2021, it was reserved for final order on August 4. However, Kumar relinquished his post after Captain resigned due to revolt against his leadership within the party.
His appointment was challenged by one Ramandeep Singh, claiming that Kumar had become a ‘de facto CM’ and was empowered by the government to make decisions on behalf of the chief minister, which is illegal.
