SHILLONG: Governor Ganga Prasad has referred the matter related to disqualification of 17 parliamentary secretaries to the Election Commission.
In a statement issued on Monday, the Deputy Secretary to the governor said a representation was submitted by Madal Sumer of Jowai, West Jaintia Hills, under Article 192 (1) of the Constitution to the governor on November 13.
As per the Constitution, the governor needs to refer the matter to the Election Commission to determine whether the legislators were holding office of profit.
“In that representation, Sumer sought the disqualification of 17 members of the State Legislative Assembly on certain grounds. The same was brought to the attention of the governor on November 16 and a decision was made by him to seek the opinion of the Election Commission on the same date,” the statement said.
Based on the decision of the governor, Raj Bhavan said the matter was referred to the Election Commission on the same date.
The High Court of Meghalaya had on November 9 declared the appointment of parliamentary secretaries illegal based on a PIL filed by Sumer and on the same day, all the parliamentary secretaries had resigned from the posts.
The court had also left it to the governor to decide on the disqualification of the 17 MLAs for holding the post of parliamentary secretaries.
