Haryana Cabinet Expansion: HC Seeks Response From Centre, State On Plea Alleging Number Of Ministers Exceeds Constitutionally Mandated 15% Of Assembly

The Punjab & Haryana High Court today, sought a response from the Union, State Government and other authorities on a PIL challenging the expansion of the Haryana Government Cabinet on March 17, stating that the number of Ministers exceeds 15% of the Assembly which is in violation of Article 164 of the Constitution.

According to Article 164(1A), the total number of Ministers, including the Chief Minister, in the Council of Ministers in a State shall not exceed fifteen per cent of the total number of members of the Legislative Assembly of that State.

Acting Chief Justice GS Sandhawalia and Justice Lapita Banerjee issued notice to all the respondents including Union, State Government and Chief Election Commission.

Jagmohan Singh Bhatti, an advocate practising in the Punjab & Haryana High Court has challenged the expansion of Cabinet alleging that it is in violation of the 91st Constitutional Amendment to Article 164 which states that as per Article 164 (1A), the Council of Ministers in a State shall not exceed fifteen percent of the total number of the Legislative Assembly.

The plea states that in Haryana the total strength of the house is 90 MLAs and by way of the appointment of Nayab Singh Saini as the Chief Minister, it exceeds the limit of 90 MLAs which is not permissible and in utter disregard to the principles of the Constitution.

It is stated that the total strength of the Ministers in Haryana, including the Chief Minister cannot exceed 13, due to it being 15% of the total strength of the assembly (90).

However, to circumvent the aforesaid mandatory Constitutional Amendment, the Chief Minister apparently out of political compulsions, proposed to appoint 4 Chief Parliamentary Secretaries, Bhati submits.

The plea seeks the quashing of the appointment of the Ministers and to declare the new Government as unconstitutional.

During the arguments, ASG Satya Pal Jain submitted that, "14 ministers have been appointed in Haryana and 15% of the total assembly will be 13.5 ministers so it has to be seen whether "0.5" will be downgraded to 13 or upgraded to 14."

AG Haryana Baldev Raj Mahajan said that in 2014 also there were 14 ministers and the Supreme Court has already held that since it is not practically possible to manage "0.5%" hence it was rounded off to the next number.

After hearing the submissions, the Court noted that a PIL challenging the appointment of Haryana's new Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini is already pending for April 30th, hence the Court deferred the hearing for the same day.

After former CM ML Khattar resigned and the entire cabinet stepped down on March 12, Saini was appointed as the new CM of Haryana.

The plea stated that Saini is a sitting MP and without having tendered his resignation from the parliamentary seat he has been administered the "oath of secrecy" as a Chief Minister of Haryana, which is a violation of the Constitution and Representation Of People Act, 1951.

Jagmohan Bhatti, advocate in person for the petitioner.

ASG Satya Pal Jain for the Union Government.

AG Haryana Baldev Raj Mahajan for State.