The Mayawati Government is questioning the Government of India’s contention over the creation of the post of Cabinet Secretary.

The Centre had maintained that the “newly-created post of Cabinet Secretary is contrary to the Constitutional scheme and the statutory provisions” and “will disturb the fundamentals of governance of the country”.

But Chief Standing Counsel of UP Government, DK Upadhyay, said the “creation of the Cabinet Secretary post lies well within the executive powers of the state vested in it under Article 162 of the Constitution.”

The post of Secretary to Cabinet has existed in one form or the other since 1951 in the Rules of Business and Secretariat Instructions 1985, he said. “The CM has only exercised her discretion. Besides, since it is a post of confidence, the CM is entitled to make an appointment on such a post.”

Upadhyay is representing the state government in the Lucknow Bench of Allahabad High Court in a PIL filed by Shiv Pratap Shukla — a practising lawyer of the Lucknow Bench.

In the PIL, the petitioner had challenged the appointment of Shashank Shekhar Singh as cabinet secretary, saying it was an IAS cadre post and Singh was not from the cadre. Shukla has sought clarifications by the Central and the State Government in this appointment and had appealed quashing of the same, since it violated cadre rules and Article 312 of the Constitution. The Government of India Department of Personnel and Training — in its affidavit filed before the Lucknow Bench of Allahabad High Court on March 3 — had argued if the “creation of the non-cadre post of Cabinet Secretary in the state is legally valid and within the Constitutional framework of the system of governance of the state.”

... contd.