The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Wednesday set aside the appointment of four MLAs as chief parliamentary secretaries in the Manohar Lal Khattar government.

However, the court, on the request of the Haryana government, put a stay on the implementation of the decision for three weeks.

Four MLAs -- Shyam Singh Rana, Kamal Gupta, Bakshish Singh Virk and Seema Trikha -- were appointed as chief parliamentary secretaries in the Haryana government in July 2015.

The court’s verdict came on a petition filed in public interest by lawyer Jagmohan Singh Bhatti, challenging the appointments.

Burden on exchequer

In the petition, Mr Bhatti contended that under the constitution there was no provision for the post of chief parliamentary secretaries and their appointment. Besides being unconstitutional, it was a burden on the State exchequer and the taxpayer, he said.

The State government contested the plea saying that chief parliamentary secretaries were appointed to assist Ministers in public interest in view of their varied duties.