Vijender Gupta to file case against Kejriwal before Lokayukta

The Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly and BJP MLA, Vijender Gupta, will file a case before the Lokayukta against chief minister Arvind Kejriwal for his “unconstitutional and illegal decision” to appoint 21 parliamentary secretaries.

According to Mr Gupta, despite having no authority under Articles 102 (1), 191 (1) and Sec 15 of NCT of Delhi Act 1991, Mr Kejriwal had unconstitutionally and illegally appointed 21 parliamentary secretaries.

Mr Gupta pointed out that the chief minister formally administered them the oath of office despite there being no such authority under the Constitution and NCT Act 1991. The chief minister got all of them allotted rooms in the Secretariat through the government and they were provided official transport, allowances and other facilities at par with the ministers, he alleged.

“Sooner or later, the Election Commission will reject their membership of the Assembly, but the chief minister should also be punished for unconstitutionally and illegally appointing parliamentary secretaries and administering them oath of office. Therefore, I will approach Lokayukta so that Mr Kejriwal, who is fond of wasting public money, is punished for his misdeeds,” said Mr Gupta.

The Leader of the Opposition claimed that a petition was filed before Delhi high court on June 19, 2015 for unconstitutional, immoral and misconduct of the chief minister. “As Mr Kejriwal was aware that he has appointed these parliamentary secretaries illegally, he held a Cabinet meeting on June 23, 2015 after the petition was filed to bring removal of disqualification of the Legislative Assembly Members Amendment Bill 2015 to save his MLAs who were appointed parliamentary secretaries,” added Mr Gupta.

After President Pranab Mukherjee received a complaint against this bill, Mr Gupta said he sought opinion of the Election Commission. Immediately after receiving the letter from the President of India, the Election Commission issued notices to all parliamentary secretaries, seeking their explanations. These parliamentary secretaries had submitted their replies before the Election Commission on May 10, 2016. They took a long time to file their replies to avoid their disqualification, he added.

“Now when the President has rejected the bill, the entire matter is before the Election Commission to decide whether or not to disqualify 21 AAP MLAs,” Mr Gupta said.