Delhi HC sets aside appointment of 21 parliamentary secys

New Delhi, September 8

In a setback to the Arvind Kejriwal government, the Delhi High Court on Thursday set aside its 2015 order appointing 21 AAP MLAs as parliamentary secretaries after it admitted in the court that the appointments did not have the Lieutenant Governor’s sanction.

A Bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal passed the order after the Delhi Government "conceded" that the March 13, 2015, order was issued without taking concurrence or views of Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung.

Senior advocate Sudhir Nandrajog, who appeared for the Delhi Government, referred to the high court’s August 4 judgment quashing several notifications issued by the AAP government on the ground that they were issued without taking concurrence of the L-G.

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"Today I have to concede that the judgement (of August 4) stands against me (Delhi government)," Nandrajog told the Bench.

The Delhi High Court declared the Lieutenant Governor the administrative head of the state on August 4 and ruled that all orders of the government would first require his approval.

Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party has appealed the order in the Supreme Court.

In an order on March 13, 2015, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had appointed 21 AAP MLAs as parliamentary secretaries.

An NGO, Rashtriya Mukti Morcha, had claimed in its plea that the Chief Minister had issued "unconstitutional and illegal order" in gross violation of the constitutional provisions and the Transaction of Business of the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi rules, 1993.

Denying the NGO's allegation, the Delhi Government had previously said it was not bypassing the statutory functions of the L-G.— Agencies