Summary:
Jaipur, Nov 25 (PTI) Rajasthan Governor Kalraj Mishra has asked the chief secretary to clarify the constitutional status of six advisers to the chief minister following allegations by the opposition that the appointments were unconstitutional.
The governor has forwarded the memorandum submitted by Deputy Leader of Opposition Rajendra Rathore to the chief secretary seeking a clarification on the constitutional status of these recent appointments, Raj Bhavan sources said on Thursday.
Rathore alleged that the posts to which appointments were made by the government were unconstitutional as they are offices of profit. He had alleged that the state government was trying to appoint MLAs as advisers to the chief minister and as parliamentary secretaries, in numbers exceeding the set constitutional limit, to appease the disgruntled legislators who were deprived of ministerial berths.
The BJP leader said the state government had already given offices of profit to six MLAs by appointing them as advisers to the chief minister on par with the rank of a cabinet minister or minister of state (MoS) and that there were plans to appoint a dozen parliamentary secretaries, again, on par with the ranks of a cabinet minister and MoS.
Rathore"s memorandum comes in the backdrop of expansion of the Gehlot cabinet in which several Congress and independent MLAs, who were expecting ministerial berths, were not accommodated.
These legislators will be adjusted through political appointments such as parliamentary secretaries and advisers, sources had said on Sunday, when 15 new ministers were sworn in.