Four chief parliamentary secretaries (CPSes) in the Manohar Lal Khattar-led BJP government on Tuesday resigned nearly two weeks after the Punjab and Haryana high court set aside their appointment.
The CPSes — BJP legislators Shyam Singh, Bakhshish Singh Virk, Seema Trikha and Kamal Gupta — were directed to put in their papers after the state BJP leadership reportedly decided not to contest the high court decision in the Supreme Court, it has been learnt.
Allowing a petition against the appointments of the CPSs, a two-judge bench of the high court had stayed the order for three weeks to give the ousted CPSs an opportunity to appeal in the Supreme Court.
The four MLAs, who were appointed as CPSs in July 2015, handed over their resignations to the CM in Chandigarh.
“The party took the decision that we should resign as CPSes. In line with the party’s instructions, we handed over our resignation to the chief minister on Tuesday evening,” Shyam Singh, who was CPS (jails, revenue and rehabilitation) told Hindustan Times.
Sources said in the absence of clarity if the HC order could be challenged, the Khattar government couldn’t take a decision on filing an appeal in the apex court.
“The state government may or may not approach the Supreme Court. Till Tuesday, no decision was taken on this issue,” a senior government functionary said.
{{/usCountry}}“The state government may or may not approach the Supreme Court. Till Tuesday, no decision was taken on this issue,” a senior government functionary said.
{{/usCountry}}Haryana advocate general (AG) BR Mahajan said: “I have not received any instruction from the state government to file an appeal in the Supreme Court. I will legally examining the issue.”
The HC had held the appointment of CPSes contrary to the intent of the 91st Constitutional amendment. The court had said the appointments were tantamount to bypassing the Constitutional mandate that limits Cabinet’s strength to 15% of the total strength of the House.
Haryana has 90 member Vidhan Sabha and in the Khattar cabinet there are nine cabinet ministers, including the CM, and five ministers of state.
The state government was paying each CPS Rs 50,000 salary plus Rs 1.12 lakh allowances, Rs 2,000 per day daily allowance (15 days in a month); staff, Rs 3 lakh per year LTC, and government accommodation.