HC dismisses state govt’s plea for early hearing

CHANDIGARH : The Punjab and Haryana high court on Wednesday dismissed a plea from the Punjab government demanding early hearing on its appeal against the single-bench order that set aside the appointment of retired IAS officer Suresh Kumar as chief principal secretary to chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh. The case is listed for hearing on March 18.

His appointment was quashed by a high court singlejudge bench in January 2018. The single-judge bench had held that Kumar was holding the public office without authority and overriding powers were given to him without any accountability. Following the single-judge order, Kumar had resigned but rejoined after the order was stayed by the division bench on February 14, 2018, acting on the plea from the state. A 1983-batch IAS officer, Kumar was appointed immediately after the Congress government took charge in Punjab in March 2017. The post created for the first time in Punjab was stated to be equivalent to a cabinet secretary of the central government. Kumar was being paid ₹2.5 lakh per month. His appointment was challenged by Ramandeep Singh, claiming that Kumar had become a ‘de facto CM’ and was empowered by the government to take decisions on behalf of the CM.

The case has not been taken up for nearly a year now due to Covid-19 outbreak. The state seeking early hearing had argued that since it has been pending for long, hearing be pre-poned. It had also argued that issue needed to be settled

once and for all. The high court bench of justice Jaswant Singh and justice Sant Parkash dismissed the plea for early hearing observing that date of hearing is fast approaching, hence there is no ground to entertain the prayer for advancement.