Appointment of 11 Parliamentary Secys: SC notice to C'garh Govt

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday declined to grant any interim relief on an appeal against a high court order dismissing pleas challenging the appointment of 11 parliamentary secretaries by the Raman Singh-led BJP government in Chhattisgarh.

However, a bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud, issued notice on the appeal to the Chhattisgarh government and the parliamentary secretaries appointed by it and sought their responses.

The Chhattisgarh government had appointed 11 MLAs as parliamentary secretaries and granted them a status equivalent to state ministers.

BJP MLAs Ambesh Jangde, Labhchand Bafna, Lakhanlal Dewangan, Motiram Chandrvanshi, Rupkumari Chaudhary, Shivshankar Paikra, Suniti Rathiya, Tokhan Sahu, Champa Devi Pawale, Govardhan Singh Manjhi and Raju Singh Kshatri were appointed as parliamentary secretaries by the Chhattisgarh government.

The Chhattisgarh government was represented by Advocate General Jugal Kishore Gilda ,who accepted notice on behalf of the state while arguing that there was no need to grant any interim relief and issuance of any notice to the Chief Minister.

Senior advocate Sanjay Hegde and lawyer Pukhrambam Ramesh Kumar, who appeared for petitioner Rakesh Choubey, said the high court had failed to assess how the appointments were made when neither any provision of the Constitution, nor any statutory enactment allowed such appointments beyond a particular limit.