Appointment of Parliamentary Secretaries

Parliamentary Secretaries:

• Parliamentary secretaries are ruling party membersappointed to assist ministers.
• They are regarded for all practical purposes as deputy ministershaving access to all official files and documents.

Appointment of Parliamentary Secretaries:

• In India, state governments have been appointing parliament secretaries from among Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs).
• A Parliament Secretary often holds the rank of Minister of State and has the same entitlements and is assigned to a government department.

Issues involved:

• PILs filed in various High Courts have argued that appointment of parliamentary secretaries goes against the Article 164 (1) of the constitution for states and Article 239AA for Delhi, which limits the number of ministers in the state/UTs cabinets.
• Various High Courts have deemed the appointment of Parliamentary Secretaries unconstitutional and have ruled against such appointments.