Shimla, August 18
In a landmark judgment which will have far-reaching political implications across the country, the Himachal Pradesh High Court today quashed the appointment of eight Chief Parliamentary Secretaries and four Parliamentary Secretaries with immediate effect and ruled that the Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh, had no powers to make such appointments. The court also directed the Chief Secretary to see to it that the order was implemented forthwith.

Disposing of a PIL, challenging the constitutional validity of the appointments filed by Mr Desh Bandhu Sood, president of the Citizen’s Rights Protection Association, a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Vinod Kumar Gupta and Mr Justice Deepak Gupta, held that there was no provision for the post of Chief Parliamentary Secretary and Parliamentary Secretary in the Constitution or any other Act of the state.

In the order, the judges observed there was neither any source of power with the Chief Minister to appoint the Parliamentary Secretaries nor any power to administer oath of office and secrecy. As such the appointments were void “ab-initio” and they could not be allowed to continue in their offices.

While Mr Mukesh Agnihotri, who was appointed as Chief Parliamentary Secretary, the day Mr Virbhadra Singh took over as Chief Minister, Mr Thakur Singh Bharouri, Mrs Anita Verma, Mr Harsh Wardhan, Mr Prem Singh, Mr Harbhajan Singh, Mr Tek Chand and Mr Lajja Ram were sworn is as Chief Parliamentary Secretaries and Mr Rghubir Sinh, Mr Surinder Kumar, Mr Sudhir Sharma and Mr J.S. Negi as Parliamentary Secretaries on April 18.