Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu.
Credit: PTI Photo
New Delhi: Himachal Pradesh has filed a plea in the Supreme Court against an earlier High Court order which quashed the appointment of six Chief Parliamentary Secretaries (CPS) by the Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu-led government and declared the law allowing it as void.
In its petition, the state government sought a stay on the High Court's direction, claiming the decision was bad in law.
The Congress government sought authorisation of the appointment of six Parliamentary Secretaries.
On November 13, the High Court, while quashing the appointments, had also directed that all the facilities and privileges of the six Chief Parliamentary Secretaries must be withdrawn with immediate effect.
The High Court had declared the Himachal Pradesh Parliamentary Secretaries (Appointment, Salaries, Allowances, Powers, Privileges and Amenities) Act, 2006 as void. It had also said the officials were usurpers of public office and that all facilities extended to them must be withdrawn with immediate effect.
Sukhu had appointed the six Chief Parliamentary Secretaries--Sanjay Awasthi, the MLA from the Arki Assembly constituency, Sunder Singh from Kullu, Ram Kumar from Doon, Mohan Lal Barakta from Rohru, Ashish Butail from Palampur and Kishori Lal from Baijnath--on January 8, 2023, ahead of Cabinet expansion.