Himachal HC to hear petition against CPS appointments on Oct 16

Himachal chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu had appointed six MLAs as CPS, namely Mohan Lal Brakta from Rohru, Sundar Singh Thakur from Kullu, Sanjay Awasthi from Arki, Ram Kumar Chaudhary from Doon, Ashish Butail from Palampur, and Kishori Lal from Baijnath

The Himachal Pradesh high court has dismissed the state government’s argument while hearing a petition challenging the appointment of chief parliamentary secretaries (CPS) filed by the Bharaita Janata Party. The state government had argued that the petition was not tenable, but the high court found it valid. The case is scheduled for hearing on October 16.

Eleven BJP MLAs, including senior leader and former state president Satpal Satti, had challenged the appointments, claiming that they were unconstitutional. (iStock)

Himachal chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu had appointed six MLAs as CPS, namely Mohan Lal Brakta from Rohru, Sundar Singh Thakur from Kullu, Sanjay Awasthi from Arki, Ram Kumar Chaudhary from Doon, Ashish Butail from Palampur, and Kishori Lal from Baijnath. They were provided with offices and vehicles.

Eleven BJP MLAs, including senior leader and former state president Satpal Satti, had challenged the appointments, claiming that they were unconstitutional. The appointment of the deputy chief minister was also challenged as unlawful in the HC. In a hearing on October 3, the court had directed the parliamentary secretaries in question to submit their responses.

Advocate Veer Bhadur Verma, representing the BJP MLAs, said that the court had dismissed the government’s application. He added that a similar case regarding CPS appointments had been heard and ruled upon in Assam and Manipur, where the appointments were deemed unconstitutional.