PANJIM: Two days after the High Court of Bombay at Goa admitted a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) challenging the constitutional validity to bestow ‘lifetime cabinet’ status to former Chief Minister Pratapsingh Rane, the State cabinet on Wednesday sanctioned 16 personal staffers to him.
The State Cabinet had on January 6 resolved to confer lifetime cabinet status with all consequential benefits to Rane for completing 50 years as an MLA. Rane was 11-time MLA since winning his maiden election on March 23, 1972. The notification granting ‘Lifetime Cabinet’ status was issued on January 7.
On Wednesday, the State cabinet that met under Chief Minister Pramod Sawant granted its nod to recruit 16 staffers in service of Rane, in line with other Cabinet Ministers.
“We had already taken a cabinet decision in January this year to give Rane lifetime cabinet status. Now we have allowed appointing staff in line with other ministers,” Sawant said.
Social activist Adv Aires Rodrigues had approached the High Court challenging the constitutional validity of the notification.
The High Court on April 25, admitting the PIL had said “arguable issues have been raised” in the petition. The matter has now been fixed for hearing on May 2.
Rodrigues in the PIL has urged the court to quash the January 7 notification that had conferred the ‘lifetime status of the rank of Cabinet Minister’ to Rane and contended that the decision taken by the Ministers in the previous Cabinet “is made malafide, in colourable exercise of power and with tearing hurry for political patronage, and is thus, bad in law.”
Meanwhile, reacting to cabinet decision to approve appointment of 16 staff to Rane, Rodrigues said,
“Creating those 16 jobs to take care of Pratapsingh Rane in his so called lifetime cabinet status was a belated eye wash which would not hoodwink the courts.”
Rodrigues said that he would place all the relevant facts before the High Court at the next hearing on May 2, including the fact that Rane on January 6, 2022 had not completed those 50 years as MLA as wrongly claimed by the authorities.
Pointing out that Rane had assumed office for the first time on March 23, 1972 as per the Official Notification issued on March 26, 1972, Rodrigues stated that Rane would have completed 50 years as a legislator only if he had been elected at the Assembly elections held on February 14, 2022.
