In a setback to the SAD-BJP government in Punjab, the Punjab and Haryana High Court today quashed the appointment of 18 Chief Parliamentary Secretaries (CPS) by it in April 2012.
The order was given by a division bench comprising Justice S S Saron and Justice Ramendra Jain.
Two petitions filed by advocates Jagmohan Singh Bhatti and H C Arora in 2012 had questioned the legal sanctity of Chief Parliamentary Secretaries on the ground that there was no provision for their appointment in the Constitution.
However, the total number of Chief Parliamentary Secretaries in Punjab is 24, which is more than the 18 Cabinet ministers, including Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.
A total of six Chief Parliamentary Secretaries were appointed in April this year and a petition challenging their appointment is pending in the high court.
Bhatti had also filed a petition challenging the appointment of four Chief Parliamentary Secretaries by the BJP government in Haryana. This petition is also pending adjudication before the division bench headed by Justice Saron.
The judgement was reserved in July 2015 following 38 hearings by a dozen benches since April 2012.
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According to Bhatti, the appointment of Chief Parliamentary Secretaries was a burden on the state exchequer.
He argued that the CPS are treated as "de-facto ministers" and enjoy financial benefits -- salary, traveling expenses, salaries of the staff attached with them, medical bills, telephone bills and other facilities such as that of the government accommodation equivalent to the status of the 'ministerial' houses/bungalows.
The petitioner said neither the rules of business of the Punjab government nor the rules of conduct of business of the state Assembly envisaged any role for CPS.
Similar appointments of Chief Parliamentary Secretaries have been quashed by the Himachal Pradesh High Court, Kolkata High Court and Bombay High Court among others, he said.
Successive governments in Punjab and Haryana have taken the CPS route to circumvent the constitutional cap on the number of ministers, which should not exceed 15 per cent of the total strength of the Legislative Assembly.
