Is appointment of Parliamentary Secretaries in Manipur unconstitutional and illegal ?
- Part 2 -

Dr. Khomdon Singh Lisam *

Assembly building as a component of the Capitol Complex at Chingmeirong, Imphal :: Pix - Bullu Raj

Previous High Court Judgements :

1. In 2009 in the case of Mr. Aires Rodrigues Vs the State of Goa and others ( as cited in Anami Narayan Ray Vs Union of India ) , a Division Bench of the Bombay High Court comprising of Chief Justice Swatanter Kumar and Justice Nelson A Britto held the appointments of the two Parliamentary Secretaries as illegal, unconstitutional and unnecessary and in violation of the Article 164 (IA) to the Constitution and set aside the appointment of two Parliamentary Secretaries in the state Government of Goa.

On 18 August, 2005. a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Vinod Kumar Gupta and Mr Justice Deepak Gupta, held that there was no provision for the post of Chief Parliamentary Secretary and Parliamentary Secretary in the Constitution. In the order, the judges observed that there was neither any source of power with the Chief Minister to appoint the Parliamentary Secretaries nor any power to administer oath of office and secrecy.

As such the appointments were void "ab-initio" and they could not be allowed to continue in their offices. The High Court quashed the appointment of 12 Chief Parliamentary Secretaries and Parliamentary Secretaries declaring such appointments as illegal and unconstitutional. The High Court observed that their continuance in office was impermissible under the law.

No High Court or Supreme Court has upheld/ supported appointment of Parliamentary Secretaries till date.

Do we justify the need for appointment of Parliamentary Secretaries ?

The present Congress ministry headed by Shri O. Ibobi Singh is having 42 Congress MLA with 12 cabinet ministers . Since the Congress ministry is enjoying absolute majority in the Assembly and it is not a coalition ministry, there is no threat to the ministry and therefore there is no circumstances and no need for appointing the Parliamentary Secretaries as mentioned under section 3 of the Manipur Parliamentary Secretary ( Appointment , salary and allowances and miscellaneous provisions ) Act , 2012 .

The Manipur Government urgently needs to cut down heavily on unnecessary expenditure. The public money could have been better utilised. On March 31, the last day of the financial year 2011-12, an amount of Rs 700 Crores was drawn for different purposes including payment of salaries for employees. Withdrawal of this amount brought the State's account balance to negative, incurring an overdraft of Rs 400 crores. 

Possibly, the Reserve Bank of India may ban the State Government from drawing funds any time now. In the beginning of financial year 2012-2013, the Manipur State Government had an overdraft account. The Reserve Bank of India may possibly ban the Government of Manipur from drawing any fund any time if the overdraft amount is not paid back. It is reported that the overdraft amount grew to Rs 400 crores as Rs 150 crores which should be kept in the State Government's account was not transferred to the State account by the bank concerned. As such, it is likely that the overdraft amount would be reduced if the amount of Rs 150 crores is transferred to the State account.

The State Government has around 65,000 regular employees. After implementation of the 6th Central Pay Commission in Manipur since April 1 last year, the Manipur State Government has been spending Rs 200 crores thereby incurring a deficit of Rs 83 crores every month in paying salaries to its employees and pensioners. The State Government is not in a position to pay the salaries of employees regularly. Moreover, there are more than six lakhs unemployed youths in Manipur .

In addition, there are many more important core issues facing the State Government of Manipur
like the conflict situation and communal tension among various ethnic groups,
demand for a greater Nagaland or Nagalim,
demand for a separate Kuki state ,
need to protect territorial integrity of Manipur,
need for an uniform land law,
political settlement of insurgency problem,
control of national highway blockade,
opening of a national highway protection force,
opening of a separate Manipur Regiment,
employment generation for youths,
need for declaring Meiteis as Scheduled Tribe,
need for bringing equality,
solidarity and unity among all ethnic groups in Manipur,
need for re-organisation of districts ,
need for providing 24 hour electricity ,
need for providing 24 hour water supply,
need for providing domestic piped LPG supply,
need for building multi storied car parking in Imphal city,
need for introducing faster inter-district transport system,
need for developing Imphal as a modern City,
alternative administrative arrangement of the Nagas outside the purview of the State Government,
need to speed up the Indo-Naga Peace Talk and finding a honourable solution,
abolition of corruption at all levels,
lifting of AFSPA -1958 from Manipur ,
need to regulate the entry of foreigners and outsiders through rigorous implementation of Foreigners Act and Inner Line Permit System,
privatisation of all sick industrial units etc.

It appears that the state government is busy only in giving symptomatic relief to the day to day problems and not caring for long term cure . The political leaders and bureaucrats in Manipur need to think outside the box. It is quite probable that the Law Department which is responsible for providing legal advice to the Chief Minister has misled the Chief Minister for reasons known to them .

I believed that the present ministry under our Chief Minister , ShriO, Ibobi Singh is very much concerned with these core issues. The Hon'ble Chief Minister with his 42 MLAs may kindly re-examine the Act, make necessary corrections to make it commensurate with the Indian Constitution and pull up the Law Department headed by the Law Secretary for having misled the Government.

It is, therefore, advisable for the state government to concentrate on these core issues in greater public interest rather than trying to satisfy some disgruntled MLAs.

Concluded...