Congress deploys top legal eagles for Himachal CPS case; Anand Sharma turns lawyer after 27 years

Top legal eagles of the Congress would appear before the Supreme Court on Friday to defend party ruled Himachal government in the case pertaining to the quashing of appointments of six chief parliamentary secretaries by the state high court.

While, Kapil Sibal would represent the state government, his former Cabinet colleague Anand Sharma would turn a lawyer for the first time in 27 years.

Sharma would defend Ashish Butail, one of the CPS, whose appointment stands quashed.

Abhishek Singhvi, the preferred lawyer of several opposition bigwigs facing legal troubles, would also appear on the behalf of those affected.

Himachal Pradesh High Court had on November 13 quashed the appointments by Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu-led government and declared the law under, which they were appointed void.

The state government then filed an appeal in the apex terming the high court order as "bad in law" and seeking a stay on it. The HC also ordered withdrawal of the all privileges the six chief parliamentary secretaries enjoyed.

The case would be heard by the Bench-led by Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna.