No clause for 21 parliamentary secretaries: Centre

“That the post of parliamentary secretaries neither finds place in the Constitution of India, nor does it find place in the Delhi Members of Legislative Assembly (Removal of Disqualification) Act of 1997, except for the post of Parliamentary Secretary to the Chief Minister. Therefore, appointment of 21 parliamentary secretaries vide the impugned order dated March 13, 2015, is not covered by the law,” the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) told a bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal.

The MHA, represented by Central government standing counsel Jasmeet Singh, made the submission in an affidavit filed in response to the court’s notice to the Centre on an NGO’s PIL seeking quashing of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s March 13 order appointing 21 Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs as Parliamentary Secretaries. 

In its affidavit, MHA also said that Delhi government had tried to legalise the appointment of the 21 parliamentary secretaries by amending the Delhi Members of Legislative Assembly (Removal of Disqualification) Act, but the President has withheld his assent to the amendment bill. The high court did not hear arguments in the matter on Wednesday and listed the matter for hearing on September 8.