Chandigarh: The Punjab and Haryana High Court issued a notice to the central and Haryana governments seeking their replies on the induction of 14 ministers in the Haryana cabinet. The court was hearing a petition filed by lawyer Jagmohan Bhatti which states that in the 91st Amendment Act of the Constitution, the number of cabinet ministers in the state should be 15 per cent of the total strength of the legislative assembly.
As per norms, the maximum number of cabinet members is 13.5 in the 90-member assembly but the present number stands at 14 violation of the constitutional mandate. The petition alleged that the number of ministers is being increased to please the MLAs and they are paid from the hard-earned money of the public.
The 91st Constitutional Amendment Act, 2003 inserted clause 1A in Article 164 which says “the total number of Ministers, including the Chief Minister, in the Council of Ministers in a State shall not exceed 15% of the total number of members of the Legislative Assembly of that State. It also provided that the number of Ministers, including the Chief Minister in a State shall not be less than twelve.
The petitioner appealed to the High Court to remove the additional members till the petition is pending. The court has fixed the next hearing on December 19.
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