In a major setback to the Himachal Pradesh government, the Supreme Court, on Friday, dismissed a petition for the transfer the Chief Parliamentary Secretary (CPS) case from the Himachal Pradesh High Court.

The Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu-led Congress government in the state had moved the apex court in the CPS case with high hopes, but could not get relief.

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Satpal Jain, counsel for BJP MLA Satpal Singh Satti and others, said the double bench of Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice SVN Bhatti dismissed the transfer petition filed by all the seven CPS appointed by the Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu in December 2022 after the Congress Government assumed power.

Leader of the Opposition and former chief minister Jai Ram Thakur and BJP state president Dr. Rajeev Bindal called the decision of the Supreme Court a big blow to the Congress government in Himachal Pradesh. “As per previous decisions taken by the Court, the appointment of Chief Parliamentary Secretary is unconstitutional,” they claimed.

Twelve BJP MLAs, including former BJP President Satpal Satitti, had challenged the appointment of CPS in the Himachal Pradesh High Court. They had filed a petition challenging the appointment of seven MLAs from various Assembly constituencies in the month of December last year including Sunder Singh from Kullu, Sanjay Awasthi from Arki, Mohan Lal Brakta from Rohru, Kishori Lal from Baijnath, Ashish Buital from Palampur and Ram Kumar from Doon, as CPS.

Their petition had also sought orders to stop the deputy CM from participating in the cabinet meetings.

The case in the Himachal Pradesh High Court is listed for December 7.