Advisors' appointment: Premature to assume financial burden, Pb govt tells HC

The Punjab government on Wednesday told the Punjab and Haryana High Court it was "premature to assume" there was a financial burden on the state exchequer due to the appointment of six MLAs as advisors to chief minister, arguing that terms and conditions of their appointments were "not out yet".

The bench of Chief Justice Krishna Murari and Justice Arun Palli heard the public interest litigation filed by an advocate who challenged the appointments of six Congress legislators as advisors to Chief Minister Amarinder Singh.

Mohali-based petitioner Jagmohan Singh Bhatti pleaded that their appointments were a violation of the provisions of the Constitution (91th amendment) Act, 2003, which stipulated that the strength of cabinet ministers could not exceed 15 per cent of total strength of members of the House.

During the hearing, Punjab Advocate General Atul Nanda, who represented the state government, asked how could one assume there was a loss to the state exchequer when there terms and conditions of appointments were yet to come out.

"As far as the financial burden is concerned, it is premature to assume because terms and conditions (of appointments) are yet not out," said Nanda.

He further said that there was a difference between a minister and somebody being given the status of a minister.

Citing an example, Nanda said if any retired district judge was appointed to a tribunal and given the status and perks of a high court judge and just because he was given equivalence in status, it would it not make him a high court judge.

On the matter of the petitioner seeking a stay on the oath-taking ceremony of advisors, Nanda said there was no such thing being contemplated.

The court asked the petitioner to correct some technical error in the petition and posted the matter for December 9.

The Punjab government had appointed six minister-rank advisors to the chief minister, a move which was described by the opposition as an attempt to circumvent the constitutional cap on the cabinet size and termed a "daylight robbery" of the state exchequer.

Four MLAs -- Kushaldeep Singh Dhillon of Faridkot, Singh Raja Warring of Gidderbaha, Sangat Singh Gilzian of Urmur and Inderbir Singh Bolaria of Amritsar South -- had been designated as advisors (political) while the fifth one, Kuljeet Singh Nagra of Fatehgarh Sahib, had been designated as advisor (planning).

All the five had been given the cabinet rank and status.

The sixth one -- Tarsem Singh DC of Attari -- had been given the designation of advisor (planning) with the rank of a minister of state.