English
Chandigarh, May 11: The Punjab government on Thursday came out in defence of minister Navjot Singh Sidhu in the petition filed against him for his appearance on The Kapil Sharma Show. Punjab Attorney General Atul Nanda said that the petitioner couldn’t state the convention as per which Navjot Sidhu could not work on TV shows being state cabinet minister. “The court said that code of conduct cannot be enforced on Navjot Singh Sidhu, as it only applies to government servants, not to ministers,” Nanda said.
A petition was filed by HC Arora, a senior advocate, in the Punjab and Haryana High Court over ‘vulgar jokes’ cracked by Sidhu on The Kapil Sharma show. Arora also wrote to Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh seeking that Sidhu be asked to quit the show as he is a minister in the Punjab Cabinet.
Court said code of conduct cannot be enforced on Navjot Singh Sidhu, as it only applies to government servants, not to ministers: Punjab AG
— ANI (@ANI_news) May 11, 2017
The petitioner had said that Sidhu’s jokes from the episode that was aired on April 8 were lewd. The petitioner said that while Sidhu must apologise for the jokes, he must also quit the show since he is now a minister in Punjab and that such jokes by him hamper the dignity of Punjab.
The Punjab & Haryana High Court had also made a strong observation against Sidhu over his appearance on The Kapil Sharma Show despite being a Minister in the Punjab Cabinet citing ‘moral responsibility’. “Everything is not about law, but what about propriety and morals? If a minister is not following service rules, how can he make his juniors follow it,” the Court had asked.
Sidhu has been facing criticism over his appearance on TV despite being a minister. He had said that what he does outside his office should be nobody’s business. He had said that to work in TV, he would fly down to Mumbai at 6 pm and be back before anybody wakes up. He had said that he would balance his work as a minister as well as his television stint.
Captain Singh had also said that if Sidhu was found to be disrespecting the ministerial post, action would be taken against him.
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