Congress moves High Court against expanded size of Chhattisgarh Cabinet, calls it unconstitutional

The Congress party in Chhattisgarh has approached the Chhattisgarh High Court challenging the Constitutional validity of the size of the State’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Cabinet following its expansion last month.

As per the civil writ petition filed on behalf of the party, the induction of three Ministers following the expansion on August 20 takes the size of the Cabinet to 14 in the 90-member Assembly, which breaches the Constitutional limit of 15%. The petition also seeks the removal of one Minister.

Chhattisgarh Congress party’s communications head Sushil Anand Shukla confirmed the development. “We have filed a writ petition and the matter will be heard by the High Court next week,” he said.

The Congress party has, since the expansion, questioned the number. In a letter to the State Governor earlier, Chhattisgarh’s Leader of the Opposition Charandas Mahant stated that the total number of Ministers in the Council of Ministers of Chhattisgarh exceeded 15% of the total number of members of the Legislative Assembly, in violation of Article 164 (1A) of the Constitution of India, and one Minister should be removed from his post.

The BJP, however, has maintained that due Constitutional process had been followed in the expansion, citing the example of Haryana, where 14 members of the 90-member Assembly (same as Chhattisgarh), including the Chief Minister, serve in the Cabinet.