Delhi High Court set aside the Arvind Kejriwal headed Delhi government’s order appointing 21 AAP MLAs as parliamentary secretaries.
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 March 13, 2015 order was issued without taking concurrence or views of Lieutenant Governor.
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 Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had told the court that such an appointment was “not covered by the law.”
The MHA had 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 order appointing 21 AAP MLAs as Parliamentary Secretaries.
In its affidavit, MHA had also said that Delhi government had tried to legalise the appointment of the 21 parliamentary secretaries by amending the Delhi Members of Legislative Assembly (Removal of Disqualification) Act, but the President has withheld his assent to the measure.
The AAP Delhi government had defended its order appointing the parliamentary secretaries, saying this was done to assist the ministers and ensure its harmonious functioning.