PANAJI
The Bombay High Court at Goa has admitted a petition filed by activist and lawyer Aires Rodrigues who has challenged the constitutional validity of the Goa government's notification granting lifetime cabinet status to former chief minister Pratapsingh Rane.
Adv Rodrigues, who pressed for interim relief in the form of a stay on the notification until the hearing of the petition, alleged that the move was in the face of Article 164 of the Constitution, which states that the total number of ministers, including the chief minister, in the Council of Ministers in a State shall not exceed fifteen per cent of the total number of members of the Legislative Assembly of that State.
Under the said rule, the number of cabinet ministers in Goa stands at 12, Adv Rodrigues stated, however, with the inclusion of Rane, the strength went beyond the maximum sanctioned strength. He cited the High Court’s previous orders in which the then Digambar Kamat had appointed cabinet secretaries to accommodate those persons whom he could not grant ministerial berths.
However, since the State government sought time to respond to the petition, the matter has been kept for arguments concerning interim relief on May 2.
Rane was granted cabinet status by the outgoing cabinet allegedly to coerce the senior legislator, who was toying with the idea of recontesting yet again on a Congress ticket, to withdraw from the fray.
Adv Rodrigues in his petition has pointed out that the Constitution of India does not provide for conferring cabinet status on any individual other than a current minister who is duly sworn in and that there is no law whereby Cabinet status can be granted to an individual, who was in the past a minister.
