Petition in HC seeks quashing of membership of 4 BJP MLAs

CHANDIGARH: A Punjab and Haryana high court lawyer has filed a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking quashing of membership of four BJP MLAs of Haryana, claiming that their appointment as chief parliamentary secretaries (CPSes) attracted office of profit law.

An office of profit means a position in the government which cannot be held by an M LA or MP.

The appointment as chief parliamentary secretaries (CPSes) of these MLAs was quashed by the high court in July 2017.

These ML As are Shy am Singh Rana, Bakhshish Singh Virk, Seem a Trikha and K am al Gupta. They were appointed as CPSes by the Man oh ar L al K hat tar government in July 2015.

Petitioner advocate Jagmohan SinghB hatti has argued that the President of India has approved disqualification of 21 AAP MLAs in Delhi and same should be made applicable here in the case of these four MLAs as well. “…holding and possessing and enjoying the benefits and facilities and status attached to the illegal post of the chief parliamentary secretaries falls within the definition of the office of profit,” Bhatti has argued.

The high court, while quashing their appointments, had held that Constitution does not permit such appointments.

The 91st Constitutional amendment bars the government not to appoint ministers, exceeding 15% of the total strength of the House.

Haryana has a strength of 90 MLAs in the Vidhan Sabha. It had nine cabinet ministers, five ministers of state and four chief parliamentary secretaries (CPSes), before these four appointments were quashed by the high court.