Suresh Kumar’s appointment: HC reserves order

The Punjab and Haryana high court on Friday reserved its order on a petition challenging appointment of retired IAS officer Suresh Kumar as chief principal secretary to CM Capt Amarinder Singh.

The petition was filed by one Ramandeep Singh who said the appointment order on March 17 “is illegal and in violation of the provisions of the All India Services Act 1951 as well as the statutory rules”. The government in its arguments said the CM was competent to appoint him and he has not been appointed against any cadre or ex-cadre post. Kumar was appointed in the rank of cabinet secretary of Government of India a day after Am arin der took over as CM. A Delhi University post-graduate, Kumar started career as a SDM in Talwandi Sabo and retired as ADS (development) in April 2016.

On Friday, justice Rajan Gupta turned down a request from the Punjab government for adjournment. Appearing for the state, additional advocate general Harsimran Singh Sethi had requested for adjournment to November 15 stating that former solicitor general of India Ranjit Kumar, who was appearing for the state, could not come. However, the court did not agree.

Later the court perused the original record on the appointment and kept two files with it for further examination. Both sides have been asked to submit written arguments by Monday.