Court okays size of Cabinet

This, he claimed, was clear from the fact that as per the Constitution, the strength of the ministry can’t exceed 15 per cent of the total strength of the legislature.

In Punjab, 15 per cent of 117—which is the number of elected MLAs in the state—comes to 17.55.

Arguing for the state Government, Punjab Advocate General Hardev Singh Mattewal told a Bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan that there was no illegality in the Badal Government having 18 ministers, including the Chief Minister. Some other states like Assam, Jammu and Kashmir and Kerala too follow the same principle: round off the strength of the ministry to the next figure. He said since 15 per cent of 117 comes to 17.55, the Badal ministry can have 18 ministers. Had the figure been less than 17.50, the number of ministers would have been one less.

The court, however, kept open the issue of interpretation of law regarding the Constitutional provision on the strength of the ministry.

Incidentally, the verdict might have saved Irrigation and Public Relations Minister and SAD president Sukhbir Badal’s brother-in-law Bikram Singh Majithia from losing his ministerial post.

For, he was the last-minute addition to the ministry and any adverse order on the PIL would have down the curtains on the one-year-old tenure of the young minister.