Headlines
Calcutta HC strikes down law appointing parliamentary secretaries
Kolkata, June 1
In a setback to the West
Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress, the Calcutta High Court on Monday
declared as unconstitutional a state law passed to appoint parliamentary
secretaries to "aid and advise" state ministers.
The Mamata
Banerjee government in December 2012 passed the West Bengal
Parliamentary Secretaries (Appointment, Salaries, Allowances and
Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, empowering it to appoint parliamentary
secretaries entitled to enjoy the status of a minister of state or
deputy minister including pay and allowances.
The law came into force on January 11, 2013.
After
the act was passed, Chief Minister Banerjee had appointed 26 of her
party legislators as parliamentary secretaries assigning them to various
government departments.
The act was subsequently challenged before the Calcutta High Court.
"We
had challenged the act on the grounds that the West Bengal Legislative
Assembly did not have the competence to enact such a law.
"Also
it was a fraud on the constitution as it bypassed Article 164 (1) which
states the total number of minister in a state cannot exceed fifteen
percent of the total number of MLAs," said Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya,
who had moved the petition.
"The bench of Chief Justice Manjula Chellur upheld our arguments and declared the act unconstitutional," said Bhattacharya.
"With
this verdict, the post of parliamentary secretaries has become void and
all the appointments made under it now stand nullified," he added.
Welcoming
the verdict, the opposition parties demanded the refund of public money
that was "splurged" on the parliamentary sectaries.
"Just
because she (Banerjee) could not satisfy her MLAs ministerial desires,
she bypassed the constitution to create this law. It's now time for her
to refund all the taxpayers' money that she splurged on these
secretaries," said Leader of the Opposition Surjya Kanta Mishra, of the
Communist Party of India-Marxist.
"Despite repeated legal
setbacks, our chief minister refuses to learn and continues to act in
whimsical ways. Hope she learns this time from her mistake and also
ensures that the public money that was wasted is refunded," said state
Bharatiya Janata Party president Rahul Sinha.