Delhi Congress president Ajay Maken has demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal following the Election Commission of India (ECI) issuing notices to the 21 Parliamentary Secretaries appointed by the AAP Government on the office of profit charge, in violation of rules and regulations.
The 21 MlAs, who were appointed as Parliamentary secretaries by the Kejriwal Government, have been asked to file a written statement on or before April 11, 2016, failing which “the Commission will then proceed to take further action without any reference to you”. Fearing the disqualification of its 21 Parliamentary Secretaries as MlAs because of the illegality of holding two offices of profit at once, the AAP Government had passed a Bill last year giving exemption to these secretaries from disqualification with retrospect effect. The Bill is still pending with the President of India for approval.
Maken said the Aam Aadmi Party, which preaches “austerity, honesty”, broke every rule for power and greed. Maken said Kejriwal should own up responsibility for illegally appointing 21 Parliamentary secretaries on high salaries with other perks like official vehicles and office. The Election Commission of India issued notices to 21 Parliamentary secretaries through the Chief Electoral Officer, NCT of Delhi, on a petition filed on June 19, 2014/2015, “alleging that you have become subject to disqualification”.
Maken had questioned the validity of appointing 21 Parliamentary secretaries by the AAP Government in violation of all set norms and precedent, as it was done only to fulfil the greed and hunger for power of the AAP MlAs.
Former secretary of the Delhi Assembly, S K Sharma, said the post is unconstitutional and falls under the office-of-profit clause. In his book, The Powers and limitations of A Delhi Government, Sharma wrote: “In the first Assembly…(when) Sahib Singh Verma took over as chief minister, he appointed one parliamentary secretary who resigned from the post after being told by experts that he could be disqualified.”