The Centre on Wednesday told the High Court that the AAP government could have only one parliamentary secretary attached to the Chief Minister as per the law.
“The post of parliamentary secretaries neither finds place in the Constitution nor the Delhi Members of Legislative Assembly (Removal of Disqualification) Act of 1997, except for the post of Parliamentary Secretary to the Chief Minister. Appointment of 21 parliamentary secretaries vide order dated March 13, 2015, is not covered by the law,” the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) told a bench of Chief Justice G. Rohini and Justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal.
The MHA, represented by the Centre’s standing counsel Jasmeet Singh, made the submission in an affidavit filed in response to the court’s notice to the Centre on an NGO’s PIL seeking quashing of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s March 13 order appointing 21 AAP MLAs as parliamentary secretaries.
In its affidavit, the MHA said that the Delhi government had tried to legalise the appointment by amending the Act, but that the President had withheld his assent to the amendment Bill.
EC hearing today
The Election Commission of India will commence the personal hearing of 21 Aam Aadmi Party MLAs, who were appointed as parliamentary secretaries and are now facing office-of-profit allegations, on Thursday.
