Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)

Bengaluru, Jan 17: A public interest litigation (PIL) filed in the state high court on Wednesday January 16 has questioned the rationale behind the appointment of eight MLAs and MLCs as parliamentary secretaries in the coalition government in the state.

Advocate for the petitioner, G R Mohan, who presented the issue on Wednesday before the division bench of the high court headed by Chief Justice Dinesh Maheshwari, prayed for early hearing of the petition. The court said that it would take up the matter for hearing on Friday.

MLAs, Dr Anjali Hemant Nimbalkar, Kaujalagi Mahantesh Shivanand, Roopakala M Shashidhar, Raghavendra Basavaraj Hitnal and D S Hoolageri, MLCs, K Abdul Jabbar, Ivan D'Souza and K Govindaraj were appointed as parliamentary secretaries on January 7.

A social worker from the city, M B Adinarayana, has filed this application. The petition argues that the current appointments violate Karnataka Legislative Secretaries Allowances Act 1963 and ammendment act 1999. The petitioner feels that giving the posts is illegal. Therefore, the court has been asked to cancel their appointments.

"As per section 161 (1A) of the constitution, the number of ministers should not exceed 15 percent of the total number of MLAs. But the government is bypassing this rule by giving post of parliamentary secretaries to those who cannot be made ministers for political reasons. This puts unnecessary burden on the exchequer," it argues.