BOMBAY, 2 July 2006 — In a serious setback to the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party Democratic Front government in Maharashtra, the Bombay High Court yesterday ruled that the post of deputy chief minister was unconstitutional and that therefore the Deputy Chief Minister R.R. Patil of the NCP cannot sign any order in that capacity.
The landmark judgment was delivered by Justice B.H Marlapalle on a petition filed by Anita Shetty against a deputy commissioner of police. While dealing with the case, the judge came across an order dated June 12, 2006 signed by Patil as deputy chief minister and home minister as an appellate authority.
“The post of deputy chief minister just does not exist in the Indian constitution. Patil has singed the order as deputy chief minister and not as home minister,” Marlapalle observed.
In his judgment, Marlapalle cited a 1995 case wherein a writ petition had challenged the swearing-in of Gopinath Munde as deputy chief minister. The then advocate general had submitted an affidavit saying Munde had not been sworn in as deputy chief minister. He said Munde was the senior-most among other Cabinet ministers and the post of deputy chief minister was just an office provided for administrative functioning.
Marlapalle said that despite it being a well-settled issue, Patil continued to err and signed the order in the capacity of deputy chief minister.
“Needless to mention, the post of deputy chief minister is unknown to our constitutional scheme and, therefore, the designation used for administrative convenience should not be used while discharging quasi judicial functions as per the business rules framed under Article 166 of the constitution,” Marlapalle ruled.
