Akhilesh to expand cabinet; Azam Khan to take oath again

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav is set to expand his ministry on Sunday.

Samajwadi Party veteran Azam Khan, who took the oath of office as cabinet minister along with Akhilesh on March 15, will be sworn in again as he had failed to complete his oath.

The decision to conduct a swearing-in ceremony was taken after a PIL was filed in the Allahabad High Court claiming that Khan has not taken oath of office as a minister as provided in the Form V of the 3rd Schedule of the Constitution.

A local lawyer, Yodendra Kumar Misra, had yesterday filed the writ petition through his counsel Hari Shankar Jain.

The petitioner alleged that in absence of oath of office as required, no person can perform the functions as a minister and he is to be deemed an usurper of the office.

The petitioner had prayed that the court may issue a writ in the nature of quo warranto against Khan as it cannot function as a minister of the state.

The matter is likely to come up for hearing on March 20.

Government sources, meanwhile, said the political leadership has already taken note of the anomaly and checked out the video recordings of the ceremony to find out the position after which it was decided that Khan should take the oath of office and secrecy again.

See what happened on March 15

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