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HC quashes appointments of MLAs as CPS by Khattar govt

The order comes a year after the Court had had quashed appointment of 18 CPS in Punjab who were appointed by the SAD-BJP led state government

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In a major setback to the Haryana government, Punjab and Haryana High Court has quashed the appointment of four Chief Parliamentary Secretaries (CPS) appointed by Manohar Lal Khattar-led government in 2015.

The Division Bench of Justice SS Saron and Justice Darshan Singh, however, granted the Haryana Government stay on the order for period of three weeks after it sought time to enable them to file a Special Leave petition (SLP).

The four BJP MLAs namely Shyam Singh Rana, Seema Trikha, Bakhshish Singh Virk and Dr Kamal Gupta were administered oath in July, 2015, months after the BJP-led Khattar government was elected to power.

The order comes a year after the Court had had quashed appointment of 18 CPS in Punjab who were appointed by the SAD-BJP led state government. The Court had held declared that the appointments were against the provisions of the Constitution.

"The court held that the posts were not valid and constitutionally fit, hereby liable to be rejected," said Advocate Jagmohan Singh Bhatti who had filed the petition challenging the appointments adding that the posts were causing an unnecessary burden on the state's exchequer.

Bhatti had argued taking the ground that there was no provision for such appointments in the Constitution and it was violation of the 91st constitutional amendment of 2004 which puts a 15 per cent cap on the size of the Council of Ministers under Article 164 (1A).

However, it is not the first time that MLAs have been accommodated as CPS. The previous Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led government had also appointed nine legislators as CPS. The appointments were challenged in the Court, however, they had become infructuos after the term of the Congress government got over.

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