5 months after he jumped ship, AAP appoints ex-SAD MLA Sukhi CONWARE chairperson
A senior official said that Sukhi was to be accommodated in a corporation, where the office of profit rule would not come in play.
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Sukhwinder Kumar Sukhi was appointed CONWARE chairperson on January 10. The Aam Aadmi Party government in Punjab has appointed Dr Sukhwinder Kumar Sukhi as chairman of Punjab State Container and Warehousing Corporation in the Cabinet rank, five months after he jumped ship to the ruling party from the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD).
To accommodate Sukhi, a former MLA from Naga, in the CONWARE, the state government leadership had asked AAP leader from Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s Dhuri constituency, Satinder Singh Chatha, to resign from the post. Chatha was among 28 party leaders, who were appointed chairpersons of various boards and corporations in February last year, ahead of 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Sukhi was appointed CONWARE chairperson on January 10. As per the copy of orders issued by Additional Chief Secretary, Agriculture, Anurag Verma, the Governor has appointed Sukhi as Director of the Board of Directors of CONWARE. Also, he was appointed the chairman of the corporation under Article 46 (i) (b) of the Memorandum of Articles of Association of the Punjab State Container and Warehousing Corporation. The terms and conditions of appointment will be issued separately.
Sukhi — one of the only three Akali Dal MLAs in the 117-member Vidhan Sabha — had joined AAP in August last year after resigning from the party and the Assembly. His resignation from House has, however, not been accepted by the Speaker. On Monday, the Punjab and Haryana High Court disposed of a PIL seeking direction to Speaker to decide a petition seeking Sukhi’s disqualification from the Vidhan Sabha on the grounds of defection.
While Chatha was not available for comments, he had earlier told the media that he had resigned from the post of CONWARE chairperson. A source close to him said that Chatha was unhappy with the functioning of the party government.
A senior official said that Sukhi was to be accommodated in a corporation, where the office of profit rule would not come in play. “The government took legal opinion from Advocate General Gurminder Singh’s office before clearing the appointment,” the official added.
Meanwhile, the Punjab government Monday informed a division Bench of Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Sudhir Singh that the Speaker has initiated proceedings on Sukhi’s resignation and will next hear the matter on February 11.
The bench was hearing a PIL filed by Advocate HC Arora who had contended that Sukhi was elected as MLA on the ticket of Akali Dal in 2022 and resigned from the membership of the party in 2024 to join the AAP. The petitioner contended by joining another political party, Sukhi has incurred disqualification under the 10th Schedule to the Constitution of India and has ceased to continue as Member of Legislative Assembly for that reason.
Arora had thus sent a petition to the Speaker seeking disqualification of Sukhi from House. Arora said that he then filed an application, on September 4, 2024, praying for stopping of payment of salary to Sukhi, as an interim measure.
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