SC refuses to stay HC order quashing CPSs’ appointment

Legal Correspondent

New Delhi, September 30 

The Supreme Court on Friday refused to suspend the Punjab and Haryana High Court judgment quashing the appointments of 21 Chief Parliamentary Secretaries (CPSs). The Punjab government had moved the apex court, challenging the High Court order.

A Bench comprising Justices MB Lokur and RK Agrawal, however, issued notice to Jagmohan Singh Bhatti and HC Arora who were instrumental in getting the appointments quashed by the High Court.

Seeking a stay order, Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi pleaded that there was a Constitutional provision for such posts which the High Court had failed to appreciate. However, the Bench was not convinced.

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On August 12, a Division Bench of Justice SS Saron and Justice Ramendra Jain of the HC had delivered the verdict on two petitions by advocates Bhatti and Arora. The ruling had caused a major embarrassment to Punjab’s SAD-BJP government.

In his petition filed more than four years ago, Bhatti had sought directions for declaring as illegal and unconstitutional the holding of Chief Parliamentary Secretaries’ posts by MLAs in Punjab.

Bhatti had pleaded that the appointment of Chief Parliamentary Secretaries and Parliamentary Secretaries in Himachal Pradesh had been quashed by the Himachal Pradesh High Court.