New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Thursday set aside the Aam Aadmi Party government’s March 13, 2015, order appointing its 21 MLAs as parliamentary secretaries to assist the ministers.
A bench of Chief Justice G. Rohini and Justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal passed the order after the counsel appearing for Delhi government "conceded" that the order was issued without taking concurrence or views of Lieutenant Governor.
Senior advocate Sudhir Nandrajog, who appeared for Delhi government, referred to the August 4 judgement passed by the High Court which had quashed several notifications issued by AAP government on the ground that they were issued without taking concurrence of the LG.
"Today I have to concede that the judgement (of August 4) stands against me (Delhi government)," Nandrajog told the bench.
Taking into consideration the submissions advanced by the Delhi government, the bench said, "the impugned order of the GNCTD is set aside."
During the brief hearing, Additional Solicitor General Sanjay Jain told the bench that the Election Commission was also seized of the matter pertaining to the appointment of 21 legislators as parliamentary secretaries. In its August 4 judgement, the High Court had held that Delhi was a Union Territory and LG remained its administrative head.
The Centre had on July 13 opposed the appointment of 21 parliamentary secretaries by the Aam Aadmi Party government, saying the post neither finds place in the Constitution, nor does it find a place in the Delhi Members of Legislative Assembly (Removal of Disqualification) Act of 1997, except for the post of Parliamentary Secretary to the Chief Minister.
The Delhi government had earlier told the court that it appointed the lawmakers as parliamentary secretaries to assist the government in the official work.
It had said the government would not pay salary or provide any other perks, except office space and government transport, to the MLAs.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission is also holding personal hearing of the 21 AAP lawmakers, who are facing the risk of disqualification from the Assembly, in the Office of Profit case.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had appointed 21 parliamentary secretaries to assist the Delhi government ministers. Thereafter, the government sought an amendment to the Delhi Members of Legislative Assembly (Removal of Disqualification) Act, 1997.
Through the bill, AAP wanted "retrospective" exemption for the parliamentary secretaries from disqualification provisions.
However, President Pranab Mukherjee had refused to sign the bill in June, following which the 21 ruling party MLAs did not have legal backing for holding the post of parliamentary secretaries.
The EC had also taken "cognisance" of the President's decision against signing a Delhi government's bill to exclude the post of Parliamentary Secretary from the ambit office of profit.
The 21 MLAs include Alka Lamba, Jarnail Singh, Adarsh Shastri and Rajesh Gupta, among others.
