High Court to hear argument in CPS case from April 22 to 24
Himachal Pradesh High Court decided to hear the argument in the petition against the appointment of six Chief Parliamentary Secretaries by the Himachal Pradesh Government from April 22 to 24.
A division bench of Justice Vivek Singh Thakur and Bipin Chandra Negi on Tuesday passed an order in the CPS case that the bench would hear argument in the case of Kalpana Singh versus the State of Himachal Pradesh and others on April 22 to 24 for three days.
Interacting with media after the hearing the counsel for Petitioner Sanjay Kumar said that the petition was filed in April 2023 and couldn’t not be heard today.
The counsel also said that the petitioner challenged the constitutional validity of the CPS Act and the bench would now hear the matter in during a single hearing for the next three dates.
Petitioners Kalpana Devi and 12 BJP MLAs have filed a public interest litigation challenging the appointments of six CPSs by the Himachal Pradesh Government.
Counsel Sanjay Kumar pleaded before the bench that the case has been pending before the bench for a year as the respondent state is seeking frequent adjournment.
He said that the government is trying to delay the case after impleading this matter with another similar matter pending before the Supreme Court.
” Since SC expected to hear the matter of CPS on April 26 after this High court would deliver the decision in this matter,” he informed.
Earlier to this Petitioner also contended before the high court that the appointment of CPS was held unconstitutional in the similar matter of Manipur and Assam governments therefore the appointment of CPS by Himachal Pradesh should be declared unconstitutional.
Petitioner said that in the reply submitted by the state of Himachal Pradesh, it was accepted that CPS are drawing higher salaries and perks being extended to MLAs, and like cabinet ministers, they are enjoying the state government vehicles with flags and red-beacon.
It is worthwhile to mention that the Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu government appointed six Chief Parliamentary Secretaries in 2022 including Sundar Singh of Kullu, Kishor Lal from Baijnath, Ashish Butail from Palampur, Sanjay Awasthi from Arki, Mohan Bragta from Rohru and Ram Kumar from Doon assembly.
