The Madras High Court on Wednesday ordered notice to the Union Home Ministry and the Chief Secretary of the Puducherry government on a plea moved by the former minister K. Lakshminarayanan seeking to quash the nomination of three members to the Puducherry Assembly made without consultation with the elected Council of Ministers.
The First Bench of Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and M. Sundar ordered notice to the three nominated members — V. Saminathan, K.G. Shankar, and S. Selvaganabathy — who were sworn-in by the Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi on Tuesday.
The Bench then adjourned the plea to July 23.
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On June 27, Mr. Lakshminarayanan, who is the parliamentary secretary to the Chief Minister, approached the court through a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition seeking to forebear the Union government from filling up the nominated seats of members of the Puducherry Assembly without the consultation and choice of the elected government of Puducherry.
PIL pending
“The public interest petition came up for hearing on June 29 and the counsels for the Union government and the Chief Secretary of Puducherry took notice. The court then posted the plea to July 5 for final disposal.
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“However, wilfully and wantonly the authorities concerned have cooked up records as if they have passed an order nominating the three members prior to the filing of the present petition,” the petitioner said.
Further more, even while the petition is pending in the court, the authorities, through a notification of June 23, nominated the three members on Tuesday, he added.
The petitioner alleged that two of the nominated members are office-bearers of Puducherry BJP, and one an active member of the RSS.
Filing an application to amend the earlier prayer, the petitioner now wanted the court to call for the records pertaining to the appointments and quash those appointments.
He wanted the court to direct the authorities concerned to nominate members only with the consultation and choice of the elected government of Puducherry.