In a relief to the Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu led Himachal Pradesh government, the Supreme Court of India has stayed the disqualification of six Chief Parliamentary Secretaries (CPS’).
Hearing the stay petition of Himachal Pradesh government on Friday, a bench of Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar ordered there will be no further proceedings in pursuant to the Himachal Pradesh High Court order quashing the appointment of six MLAs as chief parliamentary secretaries.
The Himachal Pradesh High Court on November 13 had declared the Act to appoint the CPS’s by Himachal Pradesh government as void and ordered the removal of six MLAs i.e. Sanjay Awasthi, Ram Kumar, Mohan Lal Brakta, Kishori Lal, Sunder Thakur and Ashish Butail from the posts of CPS’.
Advocate General Anup Rattan said, “The Supreme Court Division Bench heard the special leave petition of the Himachal Pradesh Government challenging the HP High Court order declaring the appointment of six CPS’s unconstitutional and striking down the law.”
“It stayed the direction of the Himachal Pradesh High Court declaring the power to appoint chief parliamentary secretaries and parliamentary secretaries in the state as unconstitutional; HP High Court verdict declaring the appointment of CPS’s would remain in status quo until January 20, 2025,” he said.
However, the Supreme Court has made it clear that no more appointments will be made by the state government.
The SC also tagged the SLP filed by the Himachal Pradesh Government with a similar petition pending before the apex court pertaining to the quashing of CPS’ and PS’ by the High Courts of Chhattisgarh, Kolkata, Punjab, Meghalaya and Manipur.
