ON JULY 2, AJIT PAWAR STRAIGHTWAY TOOK OATH AS DY. CM. IN MAHARASHTRA HOWEVER RECENTLY IN CHHATTISGARH T.S. SINGH DEO, THEN CABINET MINISTER MERELY DESIGNATED AS DY. CM, LK ADVANI WAS TOO DESIGNATED AS DY. PRIME MINISTER IN A.B. VAJPAYEE LED NDA GOVT IN JUNE, 2002
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On 2 July 2023, Ajit Pawar, dissident leader within NCP legislative party in Maharashtra Assembly was administered Oath of Office & Secrecy as Deputy Chief Minister (Dy. CM) in Maharashtra by State Governor Ramesh Bais. Pertinent that Ajit is not the only Dy. CM in the incumbent NDA i.e. Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde faction) & BJP Coalition Government in the State but Devendra Fadnavis of BJP, who is also former CM of Maharashtra (2014-19) is too Dy. CM in Eknath Shinde dispensation from 30 June 2022 onwards. Hence now there are two Dy. CMs in the State.
Be that as it may, if the Dy. CM in a State can be administered Oath as such directly by the Governor of the State on the recommendation of Chief Minister (CM) just like other Cabinet Ministers and Ministers of State or else Dy. CM is designated as such from amongst duly sworn in (Cabinet) Ministers by the Competent Authority i.e. either by the CM on his own or else by the Governor on the recommendation of CM ?
(SUBHEAD)This issue has once been raised by Hemant Kumar, an Advocate at Punjab & Haryana High Court after the recent designation ( read not taking fresh Oath) in respect of then Cabinet Minister in Bhupesh Baghel led Congress Cong Govt in Chhattisgarh, TS Singh Deo, who although got elevated as Dy. CM but he has not been administered any fresh Oath of Office and Secrecy as such.
Earlier in May this year, the Governor of Karnataka, Thaawarchand Gehlot, however administered Oath to D.K. Shivakumar of Congress straightway as Dy. CM.
Advocate Hemant is skeptical how and if the Deputy Chief Minister in a State (read not of a State) can be directly appointed and sworn in as such like the Chief Minister of the State. He recalls that on 20 Sep 2021, after Charanjit Singh Channi was sworn in as then Chief Minister of Punjab, immediately thereafter Sukhjinder Singh Randhwa and Om Prakash Soni were administered Oath as (Cabinet) Ministers by the Governor Banwarilal Purhohit and their appointment as such ( i.e. Ministers) got notified in the Official Gazette of Punjab Government on the same date i.e. 20 Sep 2021.
After 4 days, via a fresh Gazette Notification dated 24 Sep 2021, both of the above viz. Randhawa and Soni were designated as Deputy Chief Ministers. Earlier, Manish Sisodia, too got designated as then Deputy Chief Minister in Arvind Kejriwal led AAP Govt in NCT of Delhi after being sworn in as Minister in Feb, 2020. However, Sisodia has since resigned in March this year after his arrest by the CBI.
Pertinent that even LK Advani, the then Union Home Minister in AB Vajpayee led NDA dispensation got designated (and not appointed) as Deputy Prime Minister in June, 2002.
Hemant says that in his home State of Haryana, on 27 October 2019, Dushyant Chautala was however appointed and sworn in as Deputy Chief Minister directly (on the recommendation of Chief Minister, Manohar Lal Khattar) by the then Haryana Governor Satyadev Narain Arya . On the same day, a Gazette Notification was issued by the Cabinet Secretariat of Haryana Government which clearly mentioned Dushyant's appointment as Dy. CM of Haryana.
A fortnight after Dushyant was appointed Dy. CM, a Division Bench of Punjab and Haryana High Court comprising Chief Justice Ravi Shanker Jha and Justice Rajiv Sharma (since retired) dismissed a PIL challenging Dushyant's appointment as Dy. CM. The HC relied upon a Jan, 1990 judgment of the Supreme Court (K.M.Sharma Vs Devi Lal) as well verdicts of various High Courts.
Interestingly last year on Dec 11, 2022 then Himachal Pradesh Governor, Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar after administering Oath of Office and Secrecy to Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu as Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh also administered Oath of Office and Secrecy to Mukesh Agnihotri as Deputy Chief Minister.
However, the Gazette Notification as issued by the State General Administration Department the same day mentioned that in pursuance of Article 164 of the Constitution of India, the Governor, Himachal Pradesh, has been pleased to appoint, on the advice of the Chief Minister of the H.P., Mukesh Agnihotri, Member of Legislative Assembly as Deputy Chief Minister & Minister for the State of Himachal Pradesh.
Amidst all this, one seriously wonders if Mukesh Agnihotri's appointment was made as Deputy Chief Minister or else Minister or both ?
Be that as it may, Hemant asserts that It has been now a settled law that mere description of a person as Deputy Prime Minister at the Central Government or Deputy Chief Minister in State Government does not amount to violation of the Constitution nor does it confer upon him any extra powers under the Constitution and the status of such person continues to remain as that of a (Cabinet) Minister. As on today, in Andhra Pradesh, there are five Deputy CMs while in Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Uttar Pradesh, there are two Dy. CMs. In Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka and Mizoram there is however one Dy. CM.
Hemant legally opines that there is no illegality much less than unconstitutionality in “description” or in others words “designation” of duly appointed & duly sworn in Cabinet Minister(s) as Deputy Chief Minister(s) who otherwise of course ought to firstly appointed and notified as Minister since Constitution of India in Article 164(1) envisages appointment of only Chief Minister by the Governor and Ministers by the Governor on advice of Chief Minister.
