New Delhi: Amid the ongoing row over the appointment of 21 parliamentary secretaries by the Kejriwal government, an official of Ministry of Home Affairs has clarified that constitution allows only 10% of Delhi MLAs to be made parliamentary secretaries.
It means that in a house of 70 members, there can be a maximum of 7 parliamentary secretaries whereas Kejriwal government appointed 21 parliamentary secretaries.
In other full-fledged states, the ceiling for parliamentary secretaries stands at 15%.
Kejriwal government made amendment to the Delhi Members of Legislative assembly (Removal of Disqualification) Act , 1997 that aimed at seeking protection for his 21 parliamentary secretaries with retrospective effect. The President, however, withheld his assent and sent the matter to Election Commission for their views.
"The law cannot be applied retrospectively. We had obtained an opinion from the law ministry and as per the Constitution, the number of parliamentary secretaries cannot be more than 10% of the assembly seats. For other states, it's 15%,” an MHA official was quoted as saying by The Economic Times.
"In states where such secretaries have been appointed, they are within the 15% ceiling, but in some cases, they have been challenged in courts," the official further said.
It should be recalled that the appointment of parliamentary secretaries in Haryana (4PS), Punjab (19 PS) and Karnataka (10 PS) have been challenged in courts.
In West Bengal, the appointment of 13 Parliamentary secretaries was quashed by the court in June 2015.
