Contradiction in terms: Letter to BS on disqualification of AAP legislators

The disqualification of 20 Aam Aadmi Party legislators on the ground of their holding “an office of profit” as parliamentary secretaries should be fiercely debated both politically and legally. One of the basic questions that arises is, when their very appointment as such secretary had been quashed by the Delhi High Court in 2016 on the ground that these were made without the approval of the Lieutenant Governor, can these legislators then still be deemed “parliamentary secretaries” at all? 

 

It is pertinent to point out what the High Court in effect had held was that the Delhi Chief Minister within the constitutional scheme had no jurisdiction to make such appointments without the prior approval of the Lieutenant Governor. The said ruling went unchallenged and as such has attained finality. Once the court struck down the appointments on the ground of lack of jurisdiction, according to the settled law, such appointments became void in the eyes of law. Therefore, to hold that these legislatures held an office of profit inviting their disqualification is a contradiction in terms. The issue needs to settled by the court.

S K Choudhury  Bengaluru

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