In a blow to the Himachal Pradesh government, the state High Court on Wednesday declared the appointment of Chief Parliamentary Secretary (CPS) by Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu void.

Terming the appointment as unconstitutional, the court ordered immediate withdrawal of all facilities provided to the six CPS. A division bench of the HC headed by Justice Vivek Thakur and Justice Bipin Chander Negi gave the final order.

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The court setting aside the Himachal Pradesh Parliamentary Secretaries Act, 2006 under which the appointment of the CPS had been made, termed the appointment of the CPS as wastage of public funds.

The appointment of CPS had been challenged through two separate petitions including eleven BJP MLA’s which also included former BJP President Satpal Satitti and a PIL by Kalpana Devi.

The six MLAs who had been appointed as CPS by Sukhu government on January 8, last year include 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.

The court in its ruling declared the appointment of CPS to be ‘illegal, unconstitutional, void ab-initio’ and accordingly set it aside.

“Since the impugned Act is void ab initio therefore the respondents (six CPS) are usurpers of public office right from their inception and thus their continuance in the office, based on their illegal and unconstitutional appointment , is completely impermissible in law. Accordingly from now onwards, they shall cease to be holders of the offices of CPSs with all consequences,” maintained the court.

The court also directed the Advocate General appearing for the state and counsel appearing for the respondents to convey the passing of the judgment to enable the Chief Secretary and all concerned for its immediate implementation. The Chief Secretary and all concerned have also been directed to ensure the implementation of this judgment in and spirit by the court.

Meanwhile, Advocate General Anup Rattan said that the state government will challenge the High Court’s order in the apex court.

Leader of Opposition and former Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur and BJP state president Dr. Rajeev Bindal, welcoming the decision ,said that this order is a major setback to the Congress government of Himachal Pradesh.